


Brought Together by an Angel

by funfan



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Babies, Developing Relationship, Hand Jobs, M/M, Marcel is a policeman, Masturbation, Mats is still a footballer, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-25 17:39:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 48,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3819187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/funfan/pseuds/funfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fresh world-champion Mats Hummels is about to start preparing for his next season at Borussia Dortmund when one morning he meets someone unexpected. And the new acquaintance will surely turn his world upside down...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> The idea has been bugging me for a rather long time because I always enjoyed fics about footballers and babies. And this is what I'm trying to write here. I'm curious what you think about the setting so please make sure to leave comments. Your feedback is very much appreciated. :-)

Marcel drew in a shaky breath as Mats pulled back his hand that had held his head firmly in its place, making sure that the blonde wouldn’t break their passionate kiss. Not that such a stupid act was on his mind. He enjoyed this moment too much to want to stop it suddenly. And Mats’ fingers wandering down his naked back held the promise of something bigger and breathtaking. The long and soft fingers drew soothing circles on the pale skin, brushing over every mole and small zit. He had seen Marcel’s back so many times that he hadn’t even to look at it to know where those were.

Their full lips never parted and Marcel lost himself in the sensation as their beards scratched each other’s skin. It was a mild burning and Marcel knew that his skin would react wildly to the sensation, but it was a feeling he wouldn’t have traded for anything. Mats’ dilated pupils told him that the taller one shared his enthusiasm. His fingers wandered always lower and they were now tugging at Marcel’s waistbands, nudging him to lose the offending garment. And Marcel was ready to comply with his wish. He lifted his hands from Mats’ broad shoulders and he slid them under his jeans and boxers, ready to lose both pieces of clothing in a single swift move…

And he was startled awake by the annoying sound of his alarm clock. He was Marcel Schmelzer again, a regular police officer and definitely not a boyfriend of the world famous footballer Mats Hummels. Honestly, he couldn’t imagine that the two of them would ever meet by any chance, let alone date!

It was Tuesday morning and if there was anything Marcel hated more than Monday mornings, it was exactly Tuesday mornings because the memories of the last weekend were gone and the upcoming weekend was still too far away to look forward to. Not that it made such a big difference. He usually stayed at home on his days off, enjoying the undisturbed time on his own. But, his body definitely needed a change and it kept bombarding him with dreams like tonight. It was getting on his nerves, to be honest.

He took a quick shower and made sure in the meantime that he wouldn’t be troubled by distracting thoughts. He dropped in for a sandwich on his way to the police station, wearing his uniform proudly, successfully smudging it with mayonnaise. Great! This day was definitely going to suck…

 

* * *

 

Mats turned around on the street annoyed. He should have known. He definitely should have known better than to think that Benni would turn up. If the blonde was being late, that almost every time equaled with him calling their meeting off. Neither of them called it a date, because it did not involve any feelings or love. They were two grown-up men with certain needs and if they could fulfill them in each other’s bed, that was a win-win situation.

But, Benni’s visits got rarer and it wouldn’t take Mats too long before he would admit that their special arrangement was over. He checked his watch. 7:24. Exactly 24 minutes after they had been supposed to meet. So much for Schalkers and their promises! He sighed and kicked into the bush in front of him. He was going to give Benni six more minutes. After that, he was going to start his day without the other defender. Why was he even trying? Their meetings were definitely–

What was that? He spun his head around frantically to search for the source of the strange noise. It sounded a lot like a baby’s crying, but he must have misheard it, because the noise stopped immediately. He looked at his watch again. 7:25. This was going to be a long morning. He still hadn’t started his preparation for the next season, Kloppo wanted to give the fresh world champions enough time to regenerate. Mats had welcomed the decision. He had gone through half of the knockout-phase with a mild knee injury and his legs were grateful for every day they weren’t put under strain.

If only his brain had shown a sign of his long and relaxing holiday! He definitely wasn’t going to fell for Benni’s promises again. He had seen during the world cup that there was something between Benni and Julian, although Mats couldn’t tell what Benni saw in the youngster. Julian looked so suspicious and untamed. But then, maybe that’s exactly what evoked Benni’s interest.

That sound again! It did sound like a baby crying this time, Mats was sure of it. He looked around, but couldn’t see a single mom on a walk with her child. The street was almost empty, except for a few kids kicking the ball around. But, the crying got louder and it was coming from behind Mats. He spun around and looked behind the bush.

And there he saw the most beautiful sight he could imagine. A small baby, probably a girl, based on her pink playsuit, lying on the soft grass, bundled up in a warm blanket. Not that it was needed; it was exceptionally hot for Dortmund this summer. Mats smiled and bent down to pick up the fragile body. The baby tossed and kicked around angrily, whining sadly.

“Shh, it’s okay, sweetheart.” Mats hushed and rocked her. “What happened to you? Where’s your mommy?”

Her wailing stopped and now she inspected Mats’ face with great curiosity. Mats turned around numerous times, but he couldn’t see any grown-ups around. And then the smell of the baby’s diaper hit him with full force.

“Ew! I guess I now know why you were crying.” He held her as far away from him as possible. It took him a few seconds before he could think more reasonably, but the conclusions he found weren’t very soothing. “Who would leave such a beauty on the street?” He asked the infant but she only answered to him with a wide grin and a soft giggle.

 

* * *

 

“Don’t forget that you are behind the desk today.” His closest friend and colleague Lena greeted Marcel as he entered the station.

“Wonderful.” Marcel groused as he tried to arrange his tie in a way that would cover the small stain on his shirt. He dropped his green cap on his desk and walked to the reception where Lena was staring at him amused.

“I see you got out of the bed on the wrong side again.” She shook her head bored.

“I start to feel that my bed has two wrong sides.” Marcel sighed. “Anything interesting this morning?”

“No, and I don’t think it will change. Everyone is on holiday and no one wants to break the law in such an ungodly heat.” She fanned herself to give emphasis to her words. “But back to your bed problems. I think your biggest problem is that it is cold.” Marcel stopped for a moment in arranging the papers on the reception desk: a completely useless task but one that made him look busy and he had hoped that Lena would get the hint that he wasn’t up for such conversations. Well, his plan didn’t work. “Seriously, when was the last time you were out partying, Marcel? I’m sure that if you tried, you would find out that you are simply adorable.”

“Oh, shut up!” Marcel said but he was smiling inwardly and blushing visibly because of the compliment.

“I’m serious, Marcel!” Lena laughed. “I mean, if you were interested in women…”

“And a good day to you, too, Lena!” Marcel said hastily and Lena finally listened to him. She grabbed her purse and she left the station leaving Marcel alone. It was still early, it would take a good half an hour before his colleagues would arrive for their shift. And the patrolmen were cruising the streets relentlessly.

Marcel lost himself in paperwork quickly and he was startled back to reality by someone clearing his throat in front of him. He looked up and he was ready to faint the next moment.

“Mats!” He cried out before he could realize what he had said. “I mean, Mr. Hummels.”

“Do we know each other?” Mats raised his eyebrow and looked at the police officer under his eyelashes. It was the same gaze Marcel had imagined so many times in his hours spent alone and he could feel that all precaution had been useless: all the blood rushed into his groin, making his pants feel too tight all of a sudden.


	2. The Offer

Marcel had never felt so helpless in his life and he had been part of a police deployment earlier. He opened his mouth numerous times but he had trouble speaking and he only ended up gaping at the tall defender like a fish on the shore. When he finally found his tongue again, his voice was high-pitched, not a hint of its usual softness in it.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized quickly. “How can I help you?”

“Could I talk to someone competent?” Mats asked, oblivious to how much he hurt Marcel’s feelings with this harsh question. But, if he was playing this way, Marcel wasn’t going to back down.

“ _I_ am competent right now.” He said firmly, utilizing his ‘official’ voice he could use from reflex whenever needed and he had never been more grateful for it.

Mats cast him a long measuring look and then he shrugged, obviously still not convinced about Marcel’s abilities. “Okay, then. On my usual morning stroll, I found _this_ cute little sweetheart.” He rocked his arm rhythmically and it was only then that Marcel noticed a baby sleeping peacefully in Mats’ strong male arms. And God, how strong those arms were! And the soft hair covering it Marcel knew would tickle his skin if they kissed… the baby, right! He should care about the baby right now and leave his fantasies for when he would be alone in the comfort of his home, although his manhood wildly protested, soaking his boxers with pre-come.

“Are you sure there’s no one else around here?” Mats asked, having enough of Marcel’s idle staring.

“Yes, I am.” The blonde nodded, reaching for a form. “Could you tell me exactly what’s happened?”

“Really?” Mats said, his eyes radiating an adorable mixture of scorn and amusement. But then, Marcel would consider anything directed at him by Mats adorable. “I found a child and that’s all you can tell me? This poor baby was left on the street, neglected by his parents, for fuck’s sake!” He cried out, startling Marcel and the baby, the latter breaking down in tears, her strong whining echoing in the empty office.

“I understand that, Mr. Hummels, but there are certain protocols we need to–”

“I don’t care about them!” Mats continued in an even louder voice and the baby responded with raising her voice, too. “You find her parents and punish them for letting her on her own!”

“Okay, you need to calm down.” Marcel massaged his temple, trying to stop his starting headache. “And could you please make her stop crying?”

“No, I can’t, because I’m not her father! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Mats said, but he started to rock the baby gently. Obviously, he found her crying at least as annoying as Marcel did. And miraculously, the baby stopped crying immediately.

“Thank you.” Marcel said, sending a grateful glance towards the defender. Mats nodded, calmed down now. “Okay, so why don’t we start it all over again?”

 

* * *

 

Mats left the police station a baby lighter but a dozen of serious thoughts heavier. He mostly couldn’t get over how hard he had found it to leave the baby behind. She had already been left behind once and Mats had felt as if he had been letting her down, too. But, it didn’t make sense at all. He wasn’t her father, why should he care about her? He knew the answer quite well: he always cared about others more than about himself. That was the reason why Kloppo wanted him to be the team’s new captain and that was the reason why he wasn’t going to turn the offer down.

And there was another thing troubling him. He had always wanted a child, but he had suppressed those feelings successfully. He was a football star living on his own. He couldn’t possibly find the energy to raise a child, let alone a baby! But still, as he had held the little being in his arms, those feelings reemerged, stronger than ever. He couldn’t explain the fatherly care he felt for the little girl who had found the way to his heart right at the first sight.

His head started to ache and it was easy for him to guess the reason behind it. That rude policeman was to blame for it, for sure, who – on the contrary to the little baby – had annoyed him to no end. Seriously, how could the state employ people like him? He was a disgrace to his profession with his inability to act and when he had finally spoken, he had just made a total fool out of himself. Mats respected policemen, he had always done, but after this experience, he could understand those who complained about them. Even though, he had to admit the uniform suited the man rather well…

 

* * *

 

Marcel took a deep breath as he picked one of the matches in his colleague’s hand. This was a very stupid idea, one that would never work but they had to try it nonetheless. He just hoped he wouldn’t be the one who had to try it. But as he looked at the match in his hand, he had a very bad feeling.

“Who’s got the shortest?” Lars looked around the officers standing in a circle.

“I guess it’s Marcel.” Dieter nodded towards the blonde.

“Perfect.” Lars smiled. God, how much Marcel hated him! At least, Lars returned his feelings. “You already know each other so it will be a piece of cake for you, right?” He patted Marcel’s shoulder and grinned at him before sending everyone to their work.

Yeah, it was going to be a piece of cake, Marcel noted sourly. Really, he only had to call a footballer and ask of him something he would never do, making a fool of himself. Yeah, it was easy to talk to your crush who had probably forgotten you already after seeing you once. But, Marcel had no other options so he grabbed the phone and dialed Mats’ number.

“Hello?” The defender’s voice sounded from the other end of the line.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Hummels, I’m Officer Marcel Schmelzer. You talked to me in the morning.” He added in explanation.

“Oh, right, yes.” Mats mumbled. “How can I help you?”

“It’s rather unusual and complicated…” Marcel drawled, his courage failing him. “Could you please come in to the station again?”

“Why exactly?” That cautious voice warmed Marcel’s heart so much. He had respect in Mats’ eyes and that felt good.

“There are a few questions we need to ask you.” Marcel blurted out the usual explanation without thinking.

“I’ll be there soon, then.” Mats said and hung up the phone.

The next minutes were nerve-wracking. Every time the door was open, Marcel jerked his head up, hoping at the same time that it would and wouldn’t be the defender. It took Mats an hour to get there and when he entered the building, Marcel sprung up and rushed to him, pleased that he saw the love of his life twice in a day. Okay, that was exaggerating things, but his shaft trapped in his underpants and pressed against his thigh didn’t think it that way. Mats, on the other hand looked pretty pissed off that he had to get through another conversation with Marcel.

“Mr. Hummels. I’m glad you could come.” He smiled at the defender, wearing his professional mask. “Please, follow me.” He led the tall man into one of the interrogation rooms that served as the found baby’s residence for the time being.

“What’s she doing here?” Mats recoiled in the doorway as he saw a policewoman playing with the little baby.

“I’ll explain it to you right away. Marie, could you leave us alone?” Marcel smiled at his colleague who left hurryingly. “Sit down, please.” He pointed at one of the chairs.

“What’s going on?” Mats drawled as he sat down.

“It’s a rather unfortunate situation. It seems that the state can’t take her into custody right now. There are no available foster homes and the only option would be putting her into an institution.”

“And why are you sharing this with me?” Mats raised an eyebrow.

Marcel took a deep breath, steeling himself for the next sentence. But, his voice still broke when he uttered the next words. “Because we thought maybe you wanted to take care of her for a few days until the state finds a suitable home for her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it's not really realistic, but hey, the plot needs to move forward in a way, right? I hope you still enjoyed it though and I'm looking forward to reading your opinion. I might not be able to reply to you right away, but I will do it as soon as possible. Your feedback means a lot to me. :-)


	3. The First Steps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that the update took me so long, but exams have been demanding. :-( Hopefully, now I can spend more time with the boys and new chapters will be posted more frequently. Let me know if you liked the update, your feedback is always appreciated. :-)

“What?” Mats snapped, his voice echoing in the room, raising the infant’s curiosity. She looked from one man to the other now, measuring them with her innocent blue eyes.

“Just because you seem to get on well with her.” Marcel stammered defensively. “When you left, she started to cry and we could barely hush her. But, I think she knows that you are the one who saved her.” The blonde police officer looked at the defender from under his eyelashes, showing him his most pleading eyes. The truth was, that he liked the little baby himself, but he couldn’t take care of her alone. He had looked after the children of his brother a few times, but that was completely different from taking care of a kid on his own. Whenever he looked into the small angel’s eyes though, he couldn’t bear the thought of her growing up in an orphanage. It might be her unavoidable fate, but even a few days at the football star seemed like a pleasant delay. Marcel would have taken it any day.

“And what makes you think that a weeping child is all I want?” The raven-haired raised his one eyebrow and looked expectantly at Marcel.

He tried to look harsh and untouched but Marcel had seen too many interrogations not to notice all the small signals that told him that Mats was going to say yes. The immediate fear in his eyes when he realized that his outburst could make Marcel take back his offer gave him away and the policeman leaned back in his chair satisfied, lifting his arms and crossing his hands behind his head then quickly dropping them when he realized the possibility of Mats seeing armpit stains on his shirt. Luckily though, the defender seemed to be somewhere else in his thoughts and when he spoke up, Marcel’s suspicion was proven right.

“I don’t even know how to take care of a kid.” Mats looked at the baby with obvious love in his eyes. He longed to try himself out as a father, Marcel saw that much, but at the same time, the taller man was afraid of the challenge and that he would fail.

“Look, Mr. Hummels.” Marcel leaned forward, bringing forward his calm and reassuring voice. “It is really only for a few days.” Mats winced involuntarily as he was reminded of the conditions of this special exception. “And an officer from child protection will visit you. You know, we need to check if the baby is going to a nice place and all. Simply formalities. She will tell you everything you need to know, but I think you already know all that. Biological parents aren’t taught of how to take care of their children and most of them succeed.”

“Yeah, _most_ of them.” Mats snorted. “Have you found out anything about her parents?”

“Not yet.” Marcel sighed. “But, we are working on it. Although– I doubt we will find anything. Cases like this are too frequent and only a handful of them have a happy ending.” A heavy silence hung in the air for a few seconds as they both took deep breaths, staring at the little girl who had discovered her leg in the meantime and she was now trying to put it in her mouth.

“What do you say to this, little one?” Mats smiled and squatted down next to the baby. She looked straight into his brown eyes and started a happy giggle, leaving no doubts over her opinion.

 

* * *

 

Mats was going to kill that policeman. First of all, he hadn’t warned him that the child protection woman would be the most unpleasant human in the world. A conversation with her had felt like an interrogation and Mats had thought for a moment that he had been a suspect of a murder or something like that. She had inspected his home, looking for the slightest amount of dust on the shelves and she had even sniffed around in his bedroom, his most private refuge. Mats was glad she hadn’t gone as far as opening his drawers. The bottle of lube and packages of condoms he kept there ready for any possibility would have been hard to explain and he could have said a quick goodbye to the small baby.

And maybe it would have been for the better. The moment they had crossed the threshold to Mats’ house, she had turned into the worst nightmare people usually imagined a baby to be like. Her high-pitched wailing had echoed in the house and Mats had been afraid that his neighbors would call the police. It had taken him around half an hour to realize that the baby must have been hungry. Only, he hadn’t had anything at home that would have been suitable for her. So he had grabbed her and had driven to the nearest grocery store, buying some baby food and introducing his little niece to everyone. Whom he didn’t have, but no one needed to know.

And just when he thought that his long day was finally over and he could get some sleep, the baby’s dinner called and ended up in her diaper, starting another wave of crying and Mats swearing because of his stupidity. He really should have seen it coming and he should have bought at least some basic hygiene products for the baby.

“I’m trying, alright?!” He shouted at the baby, looking for something he could use as a temporary diaper. His angry voice only made her crying more intense and Mats wanted to walk out of the house, leave the baby and never come back. But just for a moment, because he immediately realized that that was what the girl’s biological parent had done (although for that tiny moment, it hadn’t seemed such a horrible act anymore). To further his frustration, his doorbell rang and he tore it open, almost tearing it off its hinges to reveal the cause of this all: a startled policeman looking like a defenseless and cornered puppy, unable to say anything.

“What?” Mats snapped and Marcel jumped back in surprise.

“Nothing.” He stammered. Seriously, how could such a milksop be a policeman? The blonde opened his mouth again, but no sound left it, so he only lifted two huge bags in his hand. The defender looked at him questioningly and that finally made him find his tongue again. “I just thought you would need a few things and you wouldn’t have the time to do the shopping.”

“Oh, really?” Mats’ anger only grew. “Well, thank you very much, but I’m doing just fine.” With that, he slammed the door right in Marcel’s face. The loud noise made the baby realize that she urgently needed a bath and she continued her wailing she had ceased to perform when Mats had opened the door.

“Hummels, you stupid dumbass!” Mats scolded himself, remembered of the initial reason of his upset and he spun around, opening the door again.

“By any chance, do you happen to have some diapers with you?” He asked from the dumbfounded policeman still standing in his doorway. The blonde measured him for a moment and then his lips curled up in a weak smile and Mats had to admit that it suited him very much.

“Can I come in?” He asked, still a bit of fear in his soft voice.

Mats only stepped aside and once the police officer entered the hall, he nudged him towards the living room that temporarily served as the place for the baby’s suffering. The blonde seemed to understand the situation immediately and nodded knowingly.

“You look tired. Sit down, I will take care of it.” He turned to the footballer and Mats’ jaw almost dropped to the floor. “Where do I find the bathroom?”

The raven-haired was still unable to say anything so he only pointed in the bathroom’s direction and watched as the blonde picked up the baby and tried to hush her, walking out of the room already.

“Wait!” Mats cried out. “Thank you, um–”

“Marcel.” The officer finished the sentence for him with deep sadness in his voice that the defender couldn’t understand. He gulped and left the room and Mats slumped down in his armchair, the tiredness overwhelming him.


	4. The Visitor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for giving this story a chance and for sticking to it despite the unusual pairing. I hope you will enjoy the new chapter too, let me know what you think of it, your feedback is very precious to me and I like nothing more than reading your comments. :-)

By the time Marcel returned with the baby, Mats had drifted into a slumber and was snoring lightly in his recliner. He watched the tall footballer sprawled out in front of him, with his mouth slightly open and a few drops of saliva gathering in the corner of his lips. He looked like an oversized baby himself and Marcel couldn’t help but smile at the sight in front of him. The real infant started to toss in his arms and he had to turn his attention to her.

“Shh. You will wake up daddy.” He whispered but ultimately, it was he who startled awake the raven-haired. Mats sat up quickly, looked around confused as if he hadn’t known where he was.

“What?” He asked and Marcel could see his brain starting to work again. He reminded him of a video game that was loading the last saved game. “What the hell?” He burst out when he finally digested the information his eyes glued to Marcel fed him with. The blonde policeman really couldn’t understand his reaction; he had done everything right, he had even helped him and yet, he was treating him this way. It seemed that Mats Hummels had a great talent in hurting him over and over again. Marcel wouldn’t have minded it at all if only he could be mad at the man, but his deep crush made it all impossible for him. “Is the tap broken?” Mats frowned and Marcel finally understood what was going on in his mind.

“No.” He snickered, looking at his soaked T-shirt. “But, bathing a baby is a messy business and I’m out of practice lately.”

“Out of practice?” The defender raised his eyebrow.

“My brother has a son, but he’s already a schoolboy.” Marcel explained and Mats nodded approvingly.

“I see. Listen, since you are already here… I really need to take a shower and I thought that maybe you could–” Mats stammered and Marcel had trouble not to laugh at him. He was a world class footballer and yet, he turned into a fumbling teenager on his first date whenever he needed to ask someone to do something?

“Of course, I’ll look after her.”

“I’ll be back in five minutes.” Mats stood up and started off towards the bathroom. He stopped in the doorway, but he really shouldn’t have. “Thanks, Manuel.”

“My name is Marcel, but never mind.” The blonde groused, not even caring if the defender heard him or not. If Mats kept being the douchebag he had been, Marcel might have to reconsider his opinion on the man of his dreams. To get over the hurting words, he looked at the little human in his hands and he cheered up immediately. “Why don’t we make some dinner for you in the meantime?” He asked and started off out of the room.

Mats had already started the water in the meantime and he was singing under the shower, apparently ignorant of the fact that a stranger was in his house and it made Marcel snicker. He had a strong urge to explore the taller man’s home, but the baby’s stomach rumbled very loudly and it reminded him of his quest. He walked into the kitchen and noticed bewildered the abundance of baby foods Mats must have bought earlier that day. Half of them were useless trash, he knew that much, but he gathered the footballer didn’t want to leave anything to chance. Marcel shook his head amused as he reached for a bottle and started to prepare some puree for the little one.

Just when he was ready, the doorbell rang. Mats was still in the shower, forgetting about his promise and Marcel froze mid motion. Was he supposed to answer it? He was a stranger after all. He thought it best if he ignored the visitor and then mentioned it casually to the host. But, as he tried to bring the spoon to the baby’s mouth again, another ringing cut through the flat, this time a much longer one.

Marcel sighed angrily. It had to be some annoying salesman who wouldn’t give up that easily so he grabbed the baby and started off towards the hall. Maybe Mats would even be grateful to him that he sent away an uninvited guest. But, as he opened the door, he was taken aback because the man standing on the doormat was none other than Marco Reus himself.

“This is Mats’ house, right?” The midfielder looked at him disapprovingly. Really, what was it with this footballers’ aversion towards him?

“Yes.” Marcel nodded.

“And you are a secret cousin or what?” Marco went on, pushing his way into the house, not waiting for any invitation.

“No, why would I be?” The shorter blonde frowned.

“I see you didn’t get it. By the way, nice kiddo.” Marco winked at him and walked comfortably to the living room. He slumped down in one of the armchairs and put his feet on the coffee table. Marcel quickly went to the kitchen to grab the plate with the baby’s dinner and joined him. After all, he wasn’t supposed to leave a visitor alone, right?

“Is Mats at home?”

“Yes, he’s just ta–taking a shower.” Marcel’s voice broke because the sentence put involuntary and inappropriate thoughts in his mind.

“I see.” The footballer sighed and lost himself in his mobile phone, much to Marcel’s pleasure. He definitely hadn’t imagined the city’s star this way. He probably had to learn a lot about footballers. He tried to engage himself in feeding the baby which turned out to be a much harder task than he had remembered. Marco had offered him help numerous times, but Marcel Schmelzer wasn’t one to accept a helping hand just anytime. At least something he shared with Mats.

The Dortmund defender finally climbed out of the bathroom after what felt like an eternity and in real life was probably around an hour. Marcel and the baby had just finished their dinner and Marco his umpteenth phone call that annoyed Marcel to no end. He jerked his head up at the approaching footsteps and his blood stood still when he saw the tall man emerging in the doorway, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. Marcel’s daze lasted only for a moment, because the next second all blood rushed into his manhood and it felt ready to explode with his arousal. And shameful or not, he couldn’t hold back his painful whimper that escaped his lips.

“Finally!” Marco burst out as he hauled himself off the armchair to shake hands with his teammate. “Dude, you really need to cut down your water expenses.”

“Just a minute, I’ll get dressed.” Mats promised and this time, he managed to keep it, returning wearing clothes and Marcel welcomed it very much as strange as it sounded. He walked to Marcel and got the baby from him, laying her down in his lap.

“Okay, what’s going on here?” Marco asked switching his glance between the two men and the baby. Mats took a deep breath and quickly told Marco what had happened, although the blonde seemed to lose his interest right after the start.

“Great.” He sighed satisfied when Mats finished his story. “Now, there’s this new place in the town and we thought with the guys that–”

“Marco, I’m not going anywhere.” Mats said firmly. “I have to take care of Emma.”

“Who?” Marco asked and this time, Marcel shared his curiosity.

“The baby.” Mats groused. “That’s what I was trying to tell you all along.”

“So you are taking care of her for a few days, but you have already given her a name. Get your facts right, Hummels.” Marco laughed.

“I can’t just call her _her_ all the time, right?” Mats defended himself not fully understanding Marco’s concerns.

“Whatever.” Marco sighed. “You used to be much more fun when you weren’t a daddy.”

“I’m not a daddy!” Mats hissed through gritted teeth.

“Yeah, sure. I just hope you will leave her at someone else when Benni decides to come over and make use of your huge double bed.” Marco said, immediately regretting his words and quickly pressing his hands on his mouth, looking horrified and apologetic at the same time.

The air froze in the room and Marcel wished for the ground to open up and swallow him. He hadn’t felt so stupid his entire life. Not because of what he had heard, but because of what it meant. This was a very nasty play of life on him. He had thought his entire life that he had been hopelessly in love with another man who was probably as straight as it gets and now he learned that Mats Hummels might find comfort in another man’s arms now and then. But, the more important thing was that that position was already taken and Marcel could feel himself blush from his own stupidity.

But, he wasn’t a fool. He recognized when he wasn’t needed in a room and this definitely was such a situation. He got up and rushed out of the room, barely glancing at either of the footballers on his way. “I should be going. Good night!” He mumbled quickly as he passed their bewildered faces. He could see from the corner of his eyes as Mats sprung up, handing the baby to Marco and followed him. He caught up to him on the front porch.

“Wait!” He called out and Marcel couldn’t do anything but obey, hearing that authoritative voice. “I mean– what Marco said… You know, you are a policeman and you have this thing with secrecy, right?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell it to anyone.” Marcel reassured him, his blood boiling.

“Thanks, dude. I appreciate it. After all, why would you be concerned about my private life?”

“Yeah, why would I?” Marcel drawled.

“And thanks for your help. You really saved me with those diapers, Marcel.” He smiled at him and it made the officer forget about everything else. Mats remembered his name, and maybe he did stand a chance.


	5. A Helping Mouth and a Helping Hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be at home at the weekend, but I didn't want to leave you without an update, so here it is. I'm not sure when I'll be able to answer your comments, but please, keep them coming, I'm always interested in your opinion and I appreciate your feedback. I hope you will enjoy it, this story is so much fun to write. :-)

Mats watched the blonde policeman leave and he mused over his own actions for a moment. Marcel had been only nice to him and he couldn’t say the same about himself. He felt very bad about his behavior. To start with, he had tried to shoo him away even though Marcel had only wanted to help him. Then, he had called him the wrong name – he couldn’t be sure of it because he was far too tired to remember exactly what had happened in the last hour, but he had a very strong suspicion that this was among them. And yet, Marcel seemed to be more offended by Marco telling him about Mats and Benni and it interested the defender very much. But, he would have the time to think about it later. Now he had to tell a dense teammate off.

He took a deep breath, and puffed himself up like a turkey, ready to charge at Marco for his stupidity. His enthusiasm was very short-lived. He stopped in the doorway leading to his living room and saw Emma lying on Marco’s chest or at least it seemed so. The blonde footballer looked at him with pleading eyes full of guilt and Mats couldn’t quite be mad at him anymore. At least he had calmed down Emma. But, it only seemed so, because the next moment the baby gave away this set-up scene and Mats found his anger again.

“How can you be so stupid and dense to spill the beans in front of a stranger?!” He shouted and Marco looked back at him with a horrified expression.

“Sh, Mats. There’s a baby sleeping here.”

“The same baby who is burping over your new iPhone?” Mats asked smugly.

“What?” Marco’s face became even more terrified if it was even possible. He inspected Emma now doing exactly what Mats had said. “Shit!” He quickly picked her up, handing her to his daddy. Luckily, it looked as if he had intervened just in time.

“Careful, Marco, there’s a minor in the room.” Mats couldn’t suppress his light chuckle as he got the baby and rested her on his stomach, patting her back gently. The whole movement felt natural to him and he was surprised by it. And then, he remembered Marcel’s words reassuring him that he would know what to do by instinct. Well, if it was so, his instincts needed some practice because the next second he felt something dripping onto his shoulder, soaking his T-shirt and he didn’t dare to look there to see what it was.

“Look, Mats, I’m sorry. It just slipped out of my mouth.” Marco apologized, obviously still more concerned about his phone than about their probably damaged friendship.

“Well, next time you should take care about what you say and what you don’t. Because maybe, just maybe, words about Mario and you might slip out of my mouth, too.” He said calmly, knowing that his impassive tone would be more threatening than any menace he could come up with. And sure enough, Marco stopped rubbing his phone against his jeans and looked at him with eyes wide with shock.

“You wouldn’t do that Mats, would you?” He stammered. Apparently, apologizing had suddenly become a more important issue to him. “Man, I’m so so sorry for what I’ve done. It won’t happen again and I’m sure that that officer won’t talk to anyone about it. If you want me to, I can talk to him and–”

“Stop.” Mats said firmly because he had a feeling that Emma was overperforming, with gas and other stuff escaping her body more than one way. “Could you come here and take a sniff?”

“No way, Mats. She’s your daughter and you wanted to take care of her. Now is your chance.” Marco shook his head vigorously despite Mats’ cutting glance.

“But– I mean, is it possible? She has just eaten and before that she already pooped.” Mats flinched because the scent was now becoming obvious, making sniffing completely needless.

“Oh my dear Mats, nature is a wonderful magician when it comes to things like this. Go on, you are needed.” He grinned, schadenfreude written all over his face.

Mats wanted to kill him right now, but Marco was right. He needed to do something about Emma’s urgent problem. He got up and walked to the table Marcel had used as a changing table. He lay down Emma and stared at her completely clueless. She looked back at him expectantly.

“Um, okay, you did this with Nico, right?” He looked for some help from his teammate.

“Not really. I’m his uncle. A close enough relative so I get to play with him, but distant enough not to be expected to change his diapers.”

Of course, what had he expected from Marco? Emma’s expression had gotten more desperate and Mats understood that there was no time to spare. He reached towards the baby with trembling fingers. Marcel had left all the supplies on the table, if only Mats had known what they were for.

“Do you think there are some tutorials on the Internet?” Mats tried one final time to get out of his duties.

“Just change that diaper finally!” Marco yelled at him.

“Okay, Mr. Smarty Pants.” Mats groused and unfastened the tabs on the baby’s diaper. “Holy crap!” He cried out as he pulled down the front half of the diaper. There was no way this much mess had come out from such a small baby.”

“This is so going on WhatsApp!” Marco laughed and Mats finally noticed that he had been filming him all along.

“Instead of mocking me, why don’t you help me?” Mats shouted and Emma started to cry.

“And instead of blaming me, why don’t you call your prince charming? I’m sure he would be willing to help you. And I mean this Marcel guy, for your information.” Marco said simply.

Mats shot him another cutting glance, but he had to admit that this was the first usable idea from the blonde today. Marcel had mentioned that he had left his number in one of the bags he had brought with him. He quickly looked through them and he finally found a small notepad. He opened it and there it was, Marcel’s phone number. But, it wasn’t the only thing written on the pages with the policeman’s hasty handwriting. There were instructions on feeding and bathing the baby and Mats flipped through them, desperate to find the tutorial he needed so much. And there it was, a step by step guide about changing a diaper.

Mats let out a sigh of relief and he was so grateful for Marcel that he promised himself to embrace him the next time he would see him. Thanks to the officer’s instructions, he managed to change Emma’s diapers in five minutes that felt like an eternity, but once he was done, he was pretty satisfied with himself and inspected his masterpiece proudly.

“Smile!” Marco brought him back to reality and Mats charged at him.

“Weren’t you going out with the guys?” He asked.

“Yes, but this was more fun.” Marco laughed.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it this much.” Mats mocked him. “Now, please make sure that you leave my house and don’t let me see you in the next three days. And for your information, Marcel is not my prince charming. He’s just a policeman I happen to have met. That’s it.”

“Right.” Marco nodded. “And if he’s just a policeman, why did you care so much if he knew about you and Benni? Why were you so eager to explain things to him? And why did you leave him alone with Emma?” Marco asked a series of rhetorical questions and quickly rushed out of the house, not waiting for Mats’ reaction.

But the defender couldn’t say anything to that. Marco was right. Why had he done all this if Marcel really wasn’t anyone special? But, it didn’t make sense at all. He only knew that he had to do something. He grabbed his phone as soon as Marco shut his front door and called the man who deserved his thanks so much.

“Hello, Marcel.” Mats greeted him when the blonde answered his call after two buzzes.


	6. Hopes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if this chapter is any good, I've been feeling awful lately and of course it can be felt on my writing, but I simply felt I had to keep going and post something. Hopefully, it won't be as bad as I fear. :-)

Marcel was getting ready for bed. The sun was still high up in the sky, but he simply didn’t see any reason to stay up late. He would have a quick shower, take a book and then slip under the bed sheets. His dog watched him bored. Oskar was very hot, his long tongue out of his mouth. Marcel wanted to take him out, but it would have been only torture because of the ungodly heat. But he promised himself that once there would come a fall in temperature, they would hit the road and they would leave the city for an entire day.

He was about to get into the bathroom when his phone started to ring. He rushed to it and once he saw who the number on the screen, his heart missed a beat. Maybe he shouldn’t have saved Mats’ number in his private phone, after all, it could be considered abuse of information the footballer had given to him as to a police officer, but seriously, how many of his friends could boast with having a world champion’s phone number? Now he only wished he had had friends he could amaze. He picked up his phone and before he could say anything, Mats greeted him.

“Hello, Marcel.” His voice was so soft and sweet and Marcel knew immediately that his shower would take a bit longer than usually. “I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“Not at all!” Marcel said, unable to hide his excitement.

“I just wanted to tell you that I found your guide and it helped me a lot. And Emma should be grateful, too, if it wasn’t for you, I would have did everything badly.” Mats laughed.

“You’re welcome.” Marcel nodded, suspecting that waiting for a thank you from the defender would be a waste of time. Based on what he had seen of Mats so far, he should have been glad that he had got this much praise or whatever it was.

“And I’d like to apologize again for what happened earlier. You know, Marco is a bit dense sometimes and yeah, it’s hard to endure his stupidity.”

“I see.” Marcel decided not to point out that Marco hadn’t been with them when Mats had sent him away or when he had called him Manuel. He was suddenly angry again at the footballer. Mats seemed to have this effect on him.

“And I hope we are good. Especially because of what Marco said.” Mats drawled. It was apparent that he had something else on his mind, he just lacked the courage to say it out loud, but at the same time, he wanted their conversation to continue.

“Mr. Hummels, I really don’t–”

“I think I’ve told you to call me Mats, right?”

“No, actually, you haven’t.” Marcel snapped.

“Oh.” Mats gaped. “Well, you can call me Mats, then.”

“Whatever.” Marcel shrugged. “Your private life is really not my business, _Mats_. All I care about is that little Emma is looked after and I have good news for you regarding that. A lady who’s been fostering kids for a long time will come home from her vacation a day earlier, so you don’t have to take care of Emma much longer and you will have time to relax before training starts.”

“Is that so?” Mats asked with huge pauses between the words. “That’s– truly good news.” He hesitated and Marcel suddenly felt bad about himself. It sounded like Mats was disappointed and he enjoyed parenting much more than Marcel had thought even despite the initial struggles. “I wish you a wonderful evening and thanks for the help again.” Mats said and before Marcel could stop him, he hung up.

 

* * *

 

“He’s a jerk, isn’t he?” Mats said to Emma who smiled back at him. The defender dropped his phone on the cushion. He stared at the small baby in his arms. Even though she had been at him only for an afternoon and even though she had caused so much trouble to him, he had come to like her and the thought of losing her was something he didn’t even want to consider. But what chance did he have? He was a busy footballer, there was no way he could adopt a child. And it hurt him more than he had thought it would.

“Let’s go, little girl! We’ve both had a long day, it’s time to hit the bed!” He hauled himself off the armchair and walked to the bedroom with Emma in his arms. He went through all the steps Marcel had mentioned in his to-do list and he put Emma in a crib he had borrowed from one of his friends. And he had the worst night of his life.

Falling asleep alone was a problem. He just couldn’t stop thinking about Emma and the possibility of becoming her real foster father. And when he finally dozed off, he was startled awake every hour and he needed to check if Emma was alright. Maybe, parenting wasn’t for him because he finally woke up completely sleep-deprived in the middle of dawn to Emma’s crying and at that time it was the most annoying sound in the world. He climbed out of bed, prepared for another diaper change. But as he stopped next to the crib he realized that it was Emma’s stomach that protested so wildly.

He picked her up and grabbed Marcel’s note, too. He had completely forgotten that he wasn’t the only one needing to eat in the household any longer. He stumbled to the kitchen and quickly grabbed a box of infant formula and started to prepare Emma’s breakfast. The baby’s wailing got more desperate with every passing second and she reached for the baby bottle impatiently.

“Hey, it’s still too hot, little one.” Mats smiled at her and checked the food again. And suddenly, a wave of pain started off in his chest. He needed to remind himself not to reach for the source of the feeling, because he would have dropped Emma. And it was exactly her who hurt him. She pressed her lips on Mats’ nipple and tried to get her food from there.

“Ouch! Hey, it doesn’t work that way, Emma!” Mats snickered. He checked if the ‘cocktail’ had cooled down enough and then he placed it to the baby’s mouth. Emma accepted it gratefully and she started to drink. Mats watched her peacefully before realization hit him and he quickly grabbed his phone, calling the only one who could answer his question.

“Yeah?” Marcel picked up the phone drowsily.

“Um, good morning. It’s Mats. Sorry to wake you up, but– Emma tried to suck milk out of my nipple.” He mumbled, embarrassed by how lame that must have sounded.

“Okay? Should I congratulate to you or what?” Marcel said.

“No, but– I mean doesn’t she need any breastfeeding? She’s still pretty young.”

“How would I know?” Marcel groused, but Mats could hear the concern in his voice, too. “You should consult a nutritionist or a doctor. Do you know someone or should I call child care so they could recommend someone?”

“No, I think I’ve got this.” Mats said and he felt the same desire to continue this conversation even though he didn’t really have anything to say– just like the previous evening.

“Um, if you need anything else, you can call me anytime today.” Marcel said.

“Okay, thank you, Marcel. And sorry for waking you up.”

 

* * *

 

“She’s perfectly healthy. Really, it’s unusual to see such a healthy baby, to be honest.” Dr. Barbara Lehmann patted Emma’s back, smiling. Mats knew her from school and both their ways led them to Dortmund in life. “Her mother must have taken care of her.”

“Except for leaving her in the street.” Mats noted sourly.

“Yes, apart from that.” She nodded. “But, I still find it strange. I mean, she wouldn’t have looked after her so carefully if she hadn’t wanted her. So what changed all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know.” Mats shrugged. “It’s the police’s job to find that out.”

“You are right. It just strikes me strange. But it was kind of you to agree to take care of her. Even if it is just for a few days.”

“Yeah.” Mats drawled.

“There’s something on your mind.” It wasn’t a question, but a simple statement.

“Yes. Honestly, Barbara, do you think I could bring her up? I mean, completely.” He admitted shyly.

“Did I miss something? Is there a future Mrs. Hummels in your life?”

“Not really.” Mats said and he already knew the answer.

“Well, I know how much you love her and you would take your role as a father seriously. But, I’m not sure if being brought up by a single parent is so good for a baby. Even if that single parent is a world-known footballer. Especially if he is a world-known footballer.”

“I see.” Mats nodded disappointed. He knew that Barbara was right but still, it felt very bad to hear what he feared. “Thank you for taking a look at her, we should go now!”

“No problem, Mats.” She smiled. “You can call me whenever you need help.”

Mats took Emma in his arms and he walked to his car. He fastened Emma to a child seat first and then he got into the car, too. For a long moment, he just stared at the steering wheel, his mind racing. He wanted Emma to get to a nice place and to a loving family and maybe it wasn’t him who would be the best option for her. But, nonetheless, he promised himself not to let her go to a place he wasn’t sure would be the best for her. And then, a sudden idea struck him.

“What do you say that we visit Marcel?” He looked into the rear-view mirror, a cheerful baby face looking back at him.


	7. Denying

Mats stopped his car in front of the police station where Marcel worked and got Emma out of her child seat. He was getting good at this, he thought as he locked the car without any effort, balancing the little baby on his other arm. The street was almost empty and he was very grateful for it. He didn’t want any attention and a photo of him with a baby would have definitely earned him a front page article in every major gossip magazine. He wanted these few days of his parenting go unnoticed in the eyes of the public. There was no point in going through a wave of prying questions if Emma would be his only for a couple of days. A few days – he had gotten this much with the little angel in his arms and now it seemed that he wouldn’t even get that.

He opened the door to the station and entered the familiar room, although this time, a young and pretty policewoman stood behind the desk. Mats stopped for a moment. He had hoped that he would find Marcel there and he wouldn’t have to make any explanations, but there was no turning back. And even if he did turn back, that would only lead to even more explanations.

“Um, hello!” He halted in front of the woman who seemed to be very preoccupied with some papers.

“Good morning!” She finally looked up. “How can I help you?”

“I’d like to see Marcel.” Mats said firmly, showing his most tantalizing smile.

“And you would be?” She drawled.

“Mats Hummels.” Mats said a bit stunned. He wasn’t used to having to introduce himself. For a moment, the policewoman looked at him with the same blank expression, but her eyes went wide when realization hit her. Mats readied himself for another fan who would ask for a photo with him or probably a signature, too.

“Oh, you are _that_ Mats!” She yelled maybe a bit too loudly, whatever she meant with it. “I’m sorry, but Marcel isn’t at work today. He called in sick this morning. I think that he should be okay tomorrow.”

“I see.” Mats nodded, disappointed. Marcel hadn’t told him anything about feeling ill and it bothered Mats even if he had no good reason for it.

“Or, maybe you can visit him. Here’s his address” she quickly scrabbled something down on a piece of paper. “, just don’t tell him you’ve got it from me.” She winked at him. That will be easy, Mats thought, since I don’t even know your name. Seriously, it seemed that every police officer was strange in a way and he wondered how they could be part of the first defensive line against criminals. Maybe, police jokes weren’t that exaggerated at all?

 

* * *

 

Marcel lived in a very quiet suburb, in a one-story house with a huge and very green yard. Just what Mats had expected, if he wanted to be honest with himself. He walked to his new acquaintance’s (or maybe even friend’s) house on a small pathway bordered by bushes and flowerbeds. He climbed the steps leading to the front porch and was about to knock on the door when it flew open and a clearly in-haste and not sick Marcel stormed out of the house, almost bumping into Mats. And when he noticed the defender standing in front of his home, he sprang up in his place.

“Mats! What are you doing here?” He asked, although it sounded more like calling to account.

“I wanted to talk to you about Emma’s case and I went to see you at the station, but a colleague of yours told me that you were sick. So I drove here.” Mats stammered, hiding the bag he held in his hand behind his back. To think that he had stopped on his way in a drugstore to get everything Marcel could need! And it turned out that the blonde was only a liar.

“I see.” Marcel nodded. “So what was it that you wanted to talk about?”

“What?”

“You told me you wanted to talk to me about Emma’s case.”

“Right, well we went to see a doctor today. She’s a friend of mine and she pointed out that Emma is very healthy. Unusually so, and that means that her mother had taken good care of her before– well, she abandoned her. It sounds strange, doesn’t it?”

“It does. But I see no reason why you couldn’t share this with my colleagues.” Marcel mused. “Especially if you knew that I was sick.”

“Yeah, you are right, I shouldn’t have troubled you.” Mats mumbled.

“Unless of course you wanted to bring me something.” Marcel smiled, pointing at the bag Mats still held. Damn him and his observing eyes!

“Oh, this? No, that’s for me.” Mats tried to come up with a white lie as quickly as possible. “I adore herbal teas!”

“Interesting, I wouldn’t have thought that.” Marcel snickered. It was obvious that he saw through Mats and his alibis. After all, why would he get his own shopping out of his car?

“Hey, and what about you?” Mats finally had the upper hand over his embarrassment. “You don’t look sick at all.” It was Marcel’s time to hesitate a bit.

“Well, I wanted to be available in case you would need me.” He admitted shyly.

“So you took a day of only because of me?” Mats gaped.

“Of course not! I also have to go and see a vet. In fact, that’s where I’m headed.” He blurted out eventually.

“Without a pet?” Mats frowned.

“My dog is already in the car.” Marcel said calmly.

“I see.” Mats nodded, trying not to laugh as said dog appeared in the doorway behind Marcel’s back. The little traitor. He knew the situation was too awkward, but he had the same feeling he had whenever he talked to Marcel: even though he didn’t have anything to say, he wanted to stay in the policeman’s presence.

“Well, now that you’ve told me what you wanted to tell me…” Marcel sighed and Mats hung his head low. It was obvious that the blonde didn’t want to talk to him.

“I’m sorry for troubling you.” He said and started off towards his car, but he turned back, driven by a sudden and a bit mean idea. “Get well soon and watch out so that your dog doesn’t run on the road.” He pointed at the dog that was sniffing Marcel’s leg. The policeman looked down bewildered and blushed when he noticed Oskar staring back at him lovingly.

Mats smiled smugly and got in his car, heading home. He couldn’t understand what Marcel was doing. Then, he really didn’t have to solve this problem. After all, Marcel was no friend of his, but still, the policeman’s doings bothered him. Where was the blonde going? It was obvious that the vet had nothing to do with it. Maybe he was about to see his lover? Mats had no right to be upset about it, but a wave of jealousy shot through him and he noticed that he was holding the steering wheel a bit tighter than called for. Even if Marcel was seeing someone, it was his private thing and had nothing to do with Mats. And yet, the defender couldn’t get the blonde out of his head, no matter how hard he tried.

“We are almost there.” He told Emma who started to complain about the long drive.

Mats drove straight to his garage. There was a door connecting the garage with the house, but he rarely used it, since it led to the cellar and he didn’t like it there. This day, maybe he should have used it, because as he left the garage and started off towards the house with Emma in his arms, he froze in his place as he saw a man standing on his porch.

“Benni?” He cried out incredulously.

“Hello, Matsi!” The blonde footballer turned around, greeting him with a wide grin.


	8. An End and a Beginning - Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am with the new chapter, I hope you will like it. A hundred thanks to Blue Night for helping me with this update. It is the first chapter of a longer plotline, but I wanted to split it into more parts, so I could tease you with some cliffhangers. :-D I hope my plan won't turn against me and you will continue with your support of the boys on their way. :-)

“What are you doing here, Benni?” Mats stammered. They had stared at each other for long minutes before the raven-haired managed to find his tongue again. The blonde defender apparently wasn’t so uneasy. He smiled at Mats in a way that made clear why he had come here. It was obvious that he didn’t suspect that he wouldn’t get it from Mats anymore.

“I think I can visit a fellow world champion, right?” The Schalke captain beamed at him.

“And Julian didn’t have the time for you?” Mats mocked him. He finally managed to make a few steps and he passed Benni, stopping in front of his front door.

“You know how young people are.” Benni shrugged. He either hadn’t noticed anything strange about Mats’ distant behavior or he was completely dense. “Are we going in or is taking me on your porch your newest kink?” He winked at Mats and for a moment, the Dortmund player wanted to smack him.

“It’s over, Benni. I’m done with you.” He opened the door and entered the house with one foot. The words left his mouth a lot easier than he had expected and the blonde’s bewildered expression wasn’t so hard to bear, either. He only wanted the other footballer to leave as soon as possible, ideally without mentioning Emma resting against Mats’ chest.

“What do you mean by that?” Benni asked. “It’s not like we have ever been together.” He snorted, trying to play the cool guy, hoping that it would help him achieve what he wanted.

“Exactly.” Mats nodded. “And we would never get together.”

“Wait a second!” Benni snapped as the penny finally dropped. “You want a meaningful relationship with me?”

“Not with you!” Mats blurted out before he realized what he had said. A grim expression froze on his face and Benni chose the worst possible reaction to his confession: he started to laugh.

“Look at you! A world-known footballer, paving his way towards a happy homosexual life. So cute and pathetic! Do you think that it could work out? Your own fans would start to hate you if they knew!” He ridiculed the stunned defender. “Have you really thought that someday, it could turn into something more serious between us?”

Mats looked incredulously at his _former_ friend who obviously hadn’t wanted them to be more than fuck buddies. For a moment, he believed what Benni said. What was he expecting? He couldn’t come out and adopt Emma. That would cause a sensation he couldn’t survive; not as a footballer and not as a father.

“I was a fool to even consider it.” He said in a raw voice, not even speaking to Benni, but the blonde still replied.

“Yes, you were.” He laughed. “Anyways, good luck with your new life. I see that you’ve already found your first little accessory.” He jerked his head towards Emma.

A previously unexperienced wave of anger washed through Mats. He clenched his free fist and he was ready to hit Benni to wipe away that amused and mocking expression from his face. How could he even think that Mats was using Emma for his own purposes, to make himself a better public image? He took a deep breath and got his control back. He stepped into the house.

“Goodbye, Benni!” He said. He leaned forward to slam the door in the blonde’s face. Emma decided to choose the same time to quickly move in his arms and she sat up, a huge belch escaping her lips, followed by a stream of vomit that landed on Benni’s white T-shirt. The blonde watched the scene completely frozen, his eyes widened as he observed the huge stain on his clothes. Mats had to force himself to slam the door and _then_ burst out in laughter.

“You did a wonderful job, young lady!” He chuckled as he patted Emma’s back tenderly. “You’re a born Borussin. But, you need a rest now.”

Mats needed a rest, too. His night wasn’t very calm and he yawned so big that he could have fitted Emma in his mouth if he had wanted to. He quickly fed the baby, washed her and put her to sleep and he slumped down with that effort on his bed, determined not to move for the next few hours until it would be necessary because of Emma’s waking up. The little angel snored sweetly in her crib already and it was the most soothing voice Mats could imagine.

And yet, he didn’t have any rest. Once he closed his eyes, Benni’s words reentered his mind. Was he really a deluded man for thinking that he could live a full life without denying who he was? Couldn’t he have a successful career and a balanced private life? Did he really have to content himself with occasional sex with random men until the day of his retirement? And what about a baby? Should he banish the idea of raising a child from his mind completely?

He tossed and turned on his bed, despair taking over him and for the first time since very long ago, he cried. The more he thought about it, the more Benni’s mocking seemed grounded and spot-on. He had had just one ally and Marcel had already deserted him. He knew that he could have asked Marco for help, but the blonde would have only ruined even the things that hadn’t been ruined already.

He was startled back to reality by a knocking on the door. He didn’t want any more visitors, but this one was particularly persistent. No matter how long Mats waited, the stranger didn’t give up and kept knocking on his front door. He reached a point where Mats feared that he would wake Emma up, so he hauled himself off the bed, tiptoeing out to the hall and opening the door.

“Marcel?” He greeted the policeman incredulously, keeping his voice down. “What are you doing here?”

“Is Emma asleep?” Marcel understood the reason behind Mats’ whispering immediately. “Gosh, I’m so sorry, but I wanted to apologize for my previous behavior. I know I wasn’t really nice to you and you meant good with being worried about me and all.”

“Don’t even dream about that. I wasn’t worried about you.” Mats played the tough guy, although Marcel was absolutely right about his caring about the blonde. It had started as a very slight feeling that could be described only as sympathy but it gained strength every single minute and by now, it was nearing what most people would call love, although Mats wasn’t ready to make such statements. “Come on in.” He stepped aside and Marcel entered his house, his steps very comfortable, as if he was feeling at home. Mats led him to the living room.

“Can I get you something?”

“No, thanks, I don’t want to bother you for long. I just wanted to share the good news with you.” He beamed at him, but this smile was much warmer for Mats than Benni’s could ever be.

“Good news?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” Marcel nodded, getting out a few papers from his pocket. “I had an appointment today, that’s why I sent you away earlier. An appointment with child care. As things stand, you are one hundred percent eligible for becoming an adoptive parent.”


	9. An End and a Beginning - Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am with the next chapter, I hope you will like it. I must thank Blue Night for doing the beta for this chapter and for supporting me all the time especially when I have doubts. Another thanks goes to all my readers, for those who leave kudos or share their opinion with me. Your feedback is simply invaluable and I'll be grateful to you forever.

Mats gaped at Marcel while he tried to digest what the blonde had said. Could it be that the other one read him that effortlessly? There was no other explanation how he could make the step Mats was afraid to take himself. The raven-haired defender stared impassively at the police officer who held an informative flyer in his hand, offering it to Mats. He grabbed the paper hesitantly and was about to open it with a racing heartbeat when doubts reentered his mind and he tossed the flyer on the armchair.

“Why do you think that I want to adopt Emma?” He snorted, hoping that he had concealed his excitement successfully. He knew that his heart told him to adopt the little baby but his brain kept him with both feet on the ground ranting all the reasons why he couldn’t get what he wanted. In the end, he was afraid to admit his deepest wish even to himself and now, Marcel came along who knew what he wanted more than Mats did.

The blonde looked at him incredulously and taken aback. He most certainly hadn’t expected such a reaction from his idol. “Well, you– you seemed to enjoy the father role so much and I– I thought that maybe– I’m sorry if I offended you in any way!” He stammered, casting his eyes down in embarrassment and disappointment.

Mats’ heart started to hurt seeing Marcel this way and he realized that once again, he had been a jerk towards the policeman. Marcel had come here with the best intentions, apologizing for his previous behavior and trying to help Mats, nudge him in the direction he might have needed to take, and all Mats did was refusing him in the harshest way possible. He felt very bad about himself; this wasn’t the man he wanted to be.

“It’s okay, Marcel.” He said tenderly, picking up the flyer again. “Look, I appreciate your effort and that you think that I could be Emma’s dad. But, I’m a footballer and I can’t possibly hope to become her foster parent. Just think about it! I’m away a lot of time and even if I’m eligible to get into the adoption program, I don’t think anyone would give me a child to take care of.”

“You can’t know that until you try it, Mats.” Marcel said, standing up and walking to the footballer, sitting down on the armrest of his armchair. Mats could have sworn that he saw Marcel raising his hand to pat his back but he stopped mid-motion, unsure about what he could and what he couldn’t do. Truth to be told, Mats would have welcomed the gentle touch. Benni’s words had left him full of doubts and he needed any kind of reassurance. Who else could give it to him better than the blonde? “Just think about it, okay?”

Mats opened his mouth to say thank you for Marcel. To tell him everything: that he wanted to adopt Emma, that he wanted to live a full life not only professionally and that he was grateful to him for everything he had done in the past days. He opened his mouth and he hesitated for a bit– and Emma used this moment to start crying.

“Can I?” Marcel looked at Mats smiling.

“Yeah, sure.” The defender nodded and he couldn’t stop himself from returning Marcel’s sweet smile. “She’s in the bedroom.”

The blonde stood up and left the room, flushing at the notion of Mats’ private bedroom. Mats was left alone with his thoughts. He picked up the flyer and opened it. A picture of a happy family greeted him: a grinning child, a loving mother and a proud father. Mats sighed. The first thing that he couldn’t give Emma. Even if he could adopt her, Benni had been right: he couldn’t live a life together with another man openly. At least, not until his retirement; and he couldn’t stand the idea of living in the shadows, living in fear of being outed. It would drive him crazy and he would choose an unhappy life over it any time.

He was still staring at the flyer when Marcel returned with Emma in his arms. He was standing in front of Mats when the footballer finally glanced at him and he sprung up immediately when he saw his T-shirt soaked with Emma’s puke.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Mats quickly took Emma from Marcel who didn’t look so shaken by the accident.

“It’s okay, Mats. Babies tend to do this especially after a long ride through the city in a car.” He shot Mats a bit reprimanding glance and the footballer cast his eyes down sheepishly.

“So I shouldn’t be worried? Even if you weren’t the first one Emma retched on today?” He asked.

“No.” Marcel laughed. “But I should get going now. I need to wash my T-shirt before it dries completely.”

“Oh no, I’m sure I can find you a shirt that fits you.” Mats started off.

“You don’t have to–” Marcel hastened to say, but Mats’ strict look didn’t give him a lot of space for objection.

“I insist.” He said firmly.

He returned a minute later with a BVB training jersey. “Take this. Even if it is a bit big, it won’t look very stupid.”

“Thanks.” Marcel mumbled. “Listen, could I take a shower, too?”

“Sure thing. You already know where the bathroom is, right?” Mats asked and Marcel nodded, already on his way.

Soon, the sound of running water broke the silence of the house and Mats walked to the kitchen, preparing Emma’s lunch. The little girl watched him with shining eyes and Mats’ throat clenched for the umpteenth time that day. How could his heart and his brain disagree so much about something? Emma’s adoption was one thing and his smaller problem right now. His love life needed an immediate solution, too. He wanted more than what he had had with Benni, that much was clear. He wanted a serious relationship with another man because he felt like he couldn’t be happy otherwise. But who would agree to live the life he had to choose if he wanted to keep playing football?

His heart knew the obvious answer. There was this police officer who made his heart beat faster whenever he appeared and who seemed to understand him so perfectly. The only problem was that he would probably get very mad at him if Mats only mentioned some deeper feelings he might feel for him. He was discreet enough not to make a fuss about Mats’ relationship with Benni, but what would he do if he was directly affected by Mats’ approach. If he was gay at all, that is.

“Mats!” He heard the blonde’s voice. “Where can I find a towel?”

“Shit, sorry, I forgot about it!” Mats cried out. “I’ll get you one.”

He ran into his bedroom and got out a towel from his closet before he jogged to the bathroom door, gently tapping on it. Marcel’s head appeared behind it, red like a tomato as he tried to give away as little of his body as possible. Mats made his job easier by throwing the towel his way and quickly turning around until he heard the bathroom door being closed.

Marcel was strong, he had seen that much. It wasn’t the strength he had as a footballer. It wasn’t the strength that would make Marcel lift weights effortlessly. It was the kind of strength that would give him the upper hand in close combat in case he had to tackle a criminal. Only the thought amused Mats. He couldn’t imagine Marcel putting handcuffs on someone. He closed his eyes to help his imagination, but the only image that popped up in his mind was Marcel’s pale skin glistening under the bathroom’s neon light. And this image made his manhood twitch in unwanted ways. He tried to compose himself and return to his lunch-making before Marcel would open the door and notice his arousal.

“I see what you did there you little troublemaker!” He said to Emma and the baby started to giggle joyfully. Not all of Mats’ question was answered, but one was sure: what he felt for Marcel was much more than only gratitude.

 


	10. Confusing Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was in the mood to update this story and also to take things a step further and move along with the plot a bit, while keeping this chapter something to wrap things up. I hope I suceeded, let me know what you think of it. Also, please bear in mind that there are a couple of handjobs in this chapter and although I haven't changed the rating yet because I didn't find them that explicit, I might change it in the future as Mats' and Marcel's relationship progresses. :-)

Marcel went home right after his shower, swearing that he would return Mats’ clothes as soon as possible. The tall defender told him that it was okay and he didn’t have to hurry. In fact, he tried to persuade Marcel to stay longer. Not that he was afraid that the blonde would catch a cold in the hot summer day if he went outside with his hair wet, but because he wanted to spend some more time with the policeman. But Marcel was adamant and Mats looked at Emma for help to no avail. The little baby couldn’t come up with anything that would make the blonde stay.

So Marcel went home and he left a feeling of solitude Mats couldn’t understand. Did he actually miss the police officer after a day of acquaintance? Okay, he might lov– like Marcel, but still, it wasn’t like they were friends. And there was no way they could ever be and Mats was to blame for it. He hadn’t done anything to make the blonde like him. Quite the contrary, he had done everything to make Marcel hate him.

Whenever Marcel had tried to be nice to him, Mats had pushed him away roughly and now he regretted it. Because actually, Marcel was a great guy. Much nicer than Benni ever had been or could be. But why was Mats having such thoughts? Even if he hadn’t ruined their relationship right away, there was no way that Marcel was interested in him _that_ way. He had been clearly upset and disgusted when Marco had carelessly blurted out Mats’ deepest secret. So no, Marcel Schmelzer wasn’t gay at all, Mats decided.

And he sighed disappointed. He couldn’t stop the thoughts of the three of them together emerging in his mind: Emma, Marcel and he. Somehow, if he imagined himself by Marcel’s side, he felt that they could tackle every hardship. Yes, an openly gay and happy life seemed possible by the side of the right one and Mats was pretty sure that Marcel was the one. If only he hadn’t been so hostile to the blonde… And if only Marcel had been gay…

“Shit.” He grunted as his jeans suddenly became too tight for his liking.

He shot a worried look at Emma who was sleeping next to him. He stood up very carefully, checking if the baby hadn’t woken up but the little angel hadn’t even moved. Mats crept out of the room on tiptoes and walked to the bathroom.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had taken care of his needs. He had wanted to let Benni do that a few days ago, but it hadn’t happened and since he had found Emma, he had been too tired to even think about it. But the sight of Marcel’s damp body had burnt into his eyes and he couldn’t forget it. In fact, they returned with troubling strength and they sent all the blood in his body into his groin.

He freed his manhood just on time because otherwise, there was a real danger that his throbbing shaft would tear through his clothes. He hadn’t been this hard– probably in his life. He knew that his cock would be extra sensitive but he wouldn’t have expected that he would almost come just because he wrapped his fingers around himself. The slit leaked a big amount of pre-come and Mats smeared it over the head of his cock and started to stroke himself, thinking about the man who had been in this very bathroom only an hour ago. Naked.

Mats tried hard to imagine what Marcel could look like without clothes and his mind came up with numerous possibilities, one hotter than the other. His strokes got faster and more powerful and it didn’t take him long until he came hard, harder than ever, shooting his load all over the tiles with one name on his lips.

“Marcel.”

 

* * *

 

Marcel stared at the T-shirt hanging on a coat hanger. He couldn’t get enough of the sight, because this wasn’t just a Mats Hummels shirt, with his number 15 on the hem. This was Mats Hummels’s shirt, one he actually wore and he must have worn it since it had been washed the last time, because Marcel could smell his scent in the soft fabric. So of course he had taken it off as soon as he had arrived home and he had stared at it ever since, lying shirtless on his bed.

He loved Mats Hummels. He had loved him ever since he had gone to see a Dortmund match in the stadium and the defender had thrown his jersey into the crowd after the match was over. Straight into Marcel’s hands. He had stared at the jersey back then unbelievingly and he was staring at it now, too. It was hanging on another coat hanger right next to his new relic.

He had taken good care of that jersey and it had taken him a month to make the horrible step of actually washing it. But, Lena, his closest friend, had pointed out that it was kind of creepy that he had a footballer’s with sweat soaked jersey in his house. What would have she said if she had known that Marcel sometimes slept with that jersey under his pillow?

Okay, it probably was creepy, but Lena couldn’t understand it. His feelings for the tall defender had started as a simple man crush, it had changed into a normal crush and after that game, into love. But Marcel wasn’t a fool. He knew that no matter how hard he would try, he would never get Mats. He was an unreachable being, plus he was already taken.

There was only one thought that brought Marcel’s mood down. Mats’ question after Emma had puked on him. _So I shouldn’t be worried? Even if you aren’t the first one Emma retched on today?_ Because there was only one man who could be ‘the first one’. Benni.

Marcel had always hated Benedikt Höwedes, just because he played for Schalke. And now he had another reason to hate him. Because Benedikt Höwedes was the only one between Marcel and the love of his life. And his own cowardice. These two were enough to eliminate all his chances of ever feeling Mats’ fingers on his skin.

Just the thought aroused him more than it probably was normal and healthy and Marcel had to pull down the zipper of his jeans to give enough space to his twitching manhood. It only made his cock more eager because there was no way it would miss its chance with Marcel’s hand so close. And the blonde couldn’t stop himself from pulling down his underwear and brushing over his shaft before taking it in a firm grip.

His hand moved lazily, allowing him to savor the experience as he brought himself closer and closer to the edge. His eyes were glued to the jersey and the T-shirt in front of him and he thought about their wearer the entire time. Probably that was the reason why he reached his climax in no time and his release coated his fingers.

And of course that was the moment when his phone started to ring. He quickly wiped his fingers with the sheets and grabbed his cell. He secretly hoped that it would be Mats calling him, so he was disappointed when he saw Lena’s photo on the screen. He quickly hid his now limp cock in his underwear because he just couldn’t talk to her almost naked.

“Hello?” He finally picked up.

“Am I intruding on something?” Lena asked mischievously.

“No, why would you?” Marcel retorted, trying very hard to hide his embarrassment but he knew that he was failing.

“I don’t know, it took you sometime to pick up the phone.” Lena drawled and the last syllable turned into a soft chuckle.

“Why don’t you tell me instead why you called me?” Marcel asked, trying to avoid answering Lena directly.

“Okay, but you should sit down first.” She sighed, her voice predicting nothing good.

“I’m lying. Is that good enough?” Marcel asked, his stomach clenched into a tight knot. Lena was usually very cheerful, she wouldn’t get this serious for no good reason.

“Yes.” She said, taking a deep breath. “You know that we took a DNA sample from the little baby Mr. Hummels found yesterday. We asked the lab to run it through the database, just in case there was a match with some criminal’s records.”

“Yes?” Marcel drawled. He didn’t like where this was going to.

“There’s a match. Almost fifty percent. So probably, we’ve found her dad.”


	11. Despair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised you that I would hurry with the next chapter, so here it is. I hope you will like it, let me know in the comments. :-)

Marcel was grateful indeed that he was lying, otherwise he would have lost his footing. Lena’s words echoed in his head because he couldn’t form any other thoughts. He stared at the ceiling without seeing anything, the knowledge weighing a ton on his shoulders. There was no way that Emma could be a criminal’s daughter. How could that be possible? Such a nice baby, a little angel and her dad a human monster? He fought against the idea but he knew that it would explain a lot of things, especially Mats’ friend’s medical opinion. Maybe, Emma’s parents had to flee the country and they couldn’t do it with a little baby.

“Marcel, are you still here?” Lena’s question brought him back to reality from his musings.

“Yeah.” He sighed. “What did he do? Emma’s father.” He added, although he was sure that his colleague had no idea about the baby’s name.

“Oh, he didn’t do anything.” She explained and Marcel’s eyes lit up. “He was involved in a case in a different role.” Her voice was sad and Marcel knew what she was going to tell. “He was a victim. He died in January, well before the baby was born.”

Marcel let out a sigh of relief. He knew he shouldn’t have been happy about such bad news, but it could have been so much worse. If Emma’s father had lived, no matter how horrible person he would be, they would have had to give him the baby. Now there would be a thorough investigation, they would try to find her mother and relatives, although it would probably be useless. No one had announced Emma’s disappearance and it told Marcel that her closest family members wouldn’t want to take care of her.

And it calmed him down. He wasn’t sure why, but ever since he had seen Mats with little Emma, they seemed so perfect together, as if they were biological parent and child. Mats was so happy and proud of the baby and Emma was always calm when he was around, as if she had chosen him to be her new dad. Or maybe she only felt that Mats had saved her.

“Who is investigating?” Marcel asked suddenly in a raspy voice.

“Well, Lars took charge and since you weren’t at work today, you aren’t on his team…” Lena drawled.

Marcel was too tired to point out that he most probably wouldn’t have made it into Lars’ team even if he had been at work. They despised each other. They had been classmates at school and at the academy, but there was something they found repulsive about each other.

“Anyways, I just thought that maybe you wanted to tell Mr. Hummels the news yourself.” She said and Marcel didn’t even ask why she had thought so. He was preoccupied with his many thoughts and the silence grew longer and longer. “It’s him, right?” She asked suddenly. “He’s the one you have a crush on.”

It wasn’t a question, but a statement said with certainty. Marcel was taken aback completely and he forgot to deny the fact. “How do you–” _Know?_ He left the sentence unfinished, but Lena could finish it for him easily. His friend wasn’t a fan of football and he had never hid his crush on a footballer, even though he never named Mats. But he could talk about him as much as he liked, knowing that Lena would forget everything the next day.

“The poster on your living room’s wall. This morning, Mr. Hummels came in to the station and I knew immediately that I had already seen him somewhere. I’ve just realized that it was in your house.” She explained and Marcel was utterly grateful that he hadn’t let Mats in earlier today. He didn’t know how he could have survived the shame he would have felt if the defender had noticed the poster. He made a mental note to take it down, even though there wasn’t a big chance of Mats ever being in his living room.

“So, does he like you?” Lena asked. She didn’t have any problem changing the subject if she could pry into anyone’s life a little bit.

“Lena, please, it’s not like–”

“You would make a move?” She snapped. “That’s your biggest problem, Marcel Schmelzer. You are shy and don’t give yourself enough credit. You are cute and lovely, I’ve told you that many times.”

“You don’t understand.” Marcel tried to stop her.

“Wait, he isn’t gay?”

“No. I mean–” Marcel hastened to say when he realized that he had said more than he should have, but it was already too late. Lena wouldn’t miss this obvious sign. Marcel usually wondered how come she hadn’t become a detective. She always told him that she couldn’t live such a stressful life, but Marcel suspected that there was something more behind it.

“Then there’s nothing to stop you, Mister!” She encouraged him. “Maybe he already likes you. Good night, Marcel!”

And just like that, she hung up. _Sure, Mats is already liking me, and he has shown great signs of that_ , Marcel snorted. Like when he hadn’t remembered Marcel’s name. Or when he had turned away from him when he had had the opportunity to take a glance at his naked body. Marcel had hated the situation, but at the same time, he had hoped that at least Mats would glance at him. It hadn’t happened and it had told him that Mats wasn’t interested in him. Besides, he already had the perfect secret lover who must have understood him better than Marcel ever could.

But, he owed Mats the truth. He looked at his cell and started to think. There was no way that Lars was still working and Mats had seemed so happy with his new role. Marcel didn’t want to bring him down and he blamed himself for this unfortunate situation. He had encouraged Mats’ wish to adopt Emma. It was so apparent whenever he looked at the footballer. And Mats’ hopes would be shattered now and he would feel more devastated because of him. No, that call could wait a few hours. He would call Mats tomorrow from work.

 

* * *

 

Only, it didn’t work out that way. When he was about to leave for work, there was a knock on his door and Marcel rushed there to open it. It was Mats, holding Emma in his arms. He beamed at Marcel and the blonde blushed immediately.

“Hi, sorry to intrude but we were out for a walk and I thought we could drop by.” He said in his tantalizing deep voice.

Marcel frowned, because Mats wasn’t living anywhere nearby, so his excuse was a bit transparent. But he wasn’t one to send him away. He stepped aside and showed them in and he regretted it immediately. Of course he had forgotten to take down Mats’ poster. There was no way out anymore, though. His dog, Oskar checked the newcomers warily but he decided that they were friends very quickly.

Marcel led them to the living room with shaky legs. He kept his eyes on the floor, refusing to look in the poster’s direction and he appreciated that Mats didn’t make a spicy remark about it, either. Instead, the footballer sat down on the couch and looked at him amused.

“Can I get you something?” Marcel asked politely.

“No, thanks. I have some news for you and I think you’ll be interested.” He started, smiling.

“Can I tell you something, first?” Marcel was serious and Mats noticed it, because his smile weakened. “We know who Emma’s father is. Or was. He’s dead. Now we will try to find her grandparents and talk to them.”

Mats didn’t move for a minute and his face turned pale and horrified. Emma must have sensed his discomfort because she started to toss in his lap. When Mats finally recovered from his shock, he turned to Marcel. “What does this mean?”

“We will talk to them and find her mother. And if they want to take care of Emma, I’m afraid they will assume guardianship of her.” He said, Mats’ sadness taking over him, too.

“B–but I– I want to adopt her.” Mats stammered in a weak voice, his voice trembling as he was on the verge of crying.


	12. Hope

Marcel didn’t think. He just darted out of the armchair and sat down next to Mats, flinging an arm around the footballer’s broad and strong shoulder. He didn’t even think that Mats would maybe pull away or get offended. He simply felt that the defender would welcome the touch and it really happened. He leaned into his embrace and calmed down a little bit, his now relaxed breathing warming Marcel’s heart. Emma must have been as satisfied with the sight above her, as she smiled at the two of them and Marcel could have sworn that he saw pride in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s gotten into me.” The sweet moment was over almost before it started when Mats shook his head and finally shrugged Marcel’s hand off himself.

“It’s okay, Mats.” Marcel smiled at him, trying to save the situation. He wanted it to last a lot longer. “You were only disappointed.”

“Why would I be disappointed?” Mats looked at him with a cutting glance.

“You said that you wanted to adopt Emma...” Marcel trembled not understanding the player’s reaction.

“But it seems that I can’t.” Mats said dryly. “Doesn’t matter. I’m sure that she will be better off with her grandparents. They must be nice people.” He shrugged.

Marcel wasn’t sure whom Mats was trying to deceive – himself or him? In either case, he didn’t succeed. The sad undertone to his voice gave him away and his big brown eyes were full of gloom, too. He wanted to shake the footballer to bring some sense into him.

“I don’t know about that.” He heard himself saying. Mats slowly lifted his head and looked at him bewildered. Marcel couldn’t be sure if he was right about the little baby’s family, but he knew what Mats wanted to hear and he wanted to tell him that. “Their son was very young. Who knows, maybe they had thrown him out? They might not want to take care of Emma at all.”

“Really?” Mats’ eyes sparkled with hope.

“It’s possible.” Marcel smiled, glad that he could cheer up the defender.

Of course, he couldn’t know if Emma’s grandparents would want to take care of her or not. But then, right now, nothing ruled out the possibility of Mats adopting her. There was only a slight chance for it, but there was one. Marcel had always been a man taking immediate action, except for his love life. He wouldn’t give Mats the chance to give up on Emma, simply because he saw how much the little baby meant to the footballer already.

“But, you have to be ready for the opportunity.” He continued and Mats looked at him questioningly. “There’s nothing stopping you from applying to become an adoptive parent. I think you should fill out an application form as soon as possible. It can be a long process, although I’m sure that in your case, they will make an exception.” He winked at the defender. If Mats wouldn’t get special treatment, Marcel would make a few calls. He had some friends in child care. He didn’t like favoritism, but he simply had to use his connections. Seeing the fire in Mats’ eyes, he knew that Emma would be in a good place at him and that was the most important for her.

“I see.” Mats nodded. “You are right.”

“And, we need to have a heads-up all the time.” He reached for his phone, ready to dial Lena. He hesitated and looked at Mats unsure. “Um, you should be quiet. My colleague is pretty nosy and I don’t want her to jump into various – conclusions.” He drawled.

Mats watched him stunned for a moment. His eyes wandered over the poster on the wall and as if he had just realized what Marcel was referring to, he nodded and smiled. He didn’t judge him or laugh at Marcel and the officer was relieved to see that. He quickly dialed his friend’s number and his call was answered within the blink of an eye.

“Hi, Lena!” He greeted her.

“How can I help you, Marcel? Do I have to fill in for you, because you’ve overslept with your idol?” Marcel could see her smirk.

“Nothing of the sort.” Marcel waved away her suggestion, but he was blushing and he was grateful that Mats couldn’t hear Lena. But better be safe than sorry, he pressed his cell phone firmer against his ear. “I just wanted to ask you to update me on the baby case, if it’s not too much to ask for.”

“Of course, Marcel.” Lena said. “Although,” she started and Marcel knew that he wasn’t going to like the next part. “I can’t fathom why it couldn’t wait until you would come to work and ask me in person.”

Shit! Lena really should have become a detective, Marcel thought. Or maybe he was too dense to realize how much he was telling her without wanting to.

“Let me guess!” She continued against Marcel’s wish. “You want to impress someone, and I presume that it’s Mats.” Marcel didn’t know what he was supposed to say. “I take your silence as a yes.”

“Okay.” Marcel finally noticed that he had been silent for a long time and Mats was staring at him with a demanding look. “Thanks, Lena! I owe you one.”

“You’re welcome.” She laughed. “How could I stand in the way of two hearts finding each other?”

Marcel hung up immediately without saying goodbye. He knew that he would have to listen to Lena’s teasing, but Mats was so worth it. Even if he loved Benedikt Höwedes. Even if he ignored Marcel.

“That’s solved.” He smiled reassuringly at the footballer.

“Thanks, Marcel.” Mats’ eyes were truly grateful. “You are the best!”

“I don’t know about that…” Marcel blushed.

“Yes, you are.” Mats repeated. “I don’t know what I would do without your help. You are so right. I will fill out an application. I don’t want to lose Emma. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but I feel like she is special. I will have a lot of trouble persuading the authorities that I will be able to take care of her, but I want to. There is this connection between us. I understand her and I know that she does understand me. It’s freaking me out, but she always does things that somehow help me realize things. I don’t know how to describe this feeling. It’s almost like–”

“Love.” Marcel finished the sentence for him. Mats turned to him suddenly in a way that they stared at each other face to face, only a few centimeters between them. “Um, sorry.” Marcel apologized when he sensed that the situation was uncomfortable for Mats. Of course, he had a boyfriend already. “Listen, if you want to hand in an application, I can give you a number of a lovely girl. She works for child care and she will help you for sure. Just tell her that I gave you her number. I only have to get it from my phone book in my room. Don’t go anywhere!” Marcel stood up and rushed out of the room. He couldn’t look into Mats’ eyes any longer. Not without all his blood rushing into his face and his groin.

He ran into his bedroom and scanned through the pages of his phone book in a maddening speed. He finally found what he was looking for and copied the numbers on a scrap of paper before running back to Mats. He found him in the hall. The footballer was standing next to the front door with Emma in his arms.

“Here you have it.” Marcel handed him the paper and Mats accepted it with a warm smile.

“Thanks a lot. I think I will go. Can I take you to work?”

“No, thanks!” Marcel shook his head.

“Okay.” Mats nodded. “Bye, then!”

“If you need anything, just call me.” Marcel wasn’t sure why he said it. It simply felt like the right thing. The defender only nodded again and left.

Marcel walked back into the living room. He was sure that the amount of blood running through his head wasn’t healthy, but he couldn’t help it. His heart started to beat faster whenever he was close to his crush. And their lately frequent meetings didn’t help his case at all. He sighed and looked around in the room. Something wasn’t right, he couldn’t get rid of this feeling. He inspected everything carefully, but didn’t see anything out of order.

He shrugged his shoulders and stood up. He had to go to work. It was on his way out of the room when he saw what had been bugging him: a signature on the poster of Mats and a short message that made his heart flip.

_To Dortmund’s nicest policeman…_


	13. A New Plan

“I can’t believe people!” Lena shouted when she entered the police station.

Marcel looked up from the files he was arranging. He had to do the paperwork for some speeding tickets. A dull job, but at least he could think about Mats’ adoption and he could do it undisturbed until now. His best friend had just returned from visiting Emma’s grandparents with Lars. She seemed frustrated and upset and Marcel gathered that the questioning hadn’t gone well.

“Schulz, stop that! You can’t get this affected by a case or I’ll find someone else for my team.” Their boss barked and it seemed to have calmed Lena down a little bit.

Marcel and his colleagues watched the scene bewildered, but at the same time trying to pretend that they couldn’t care less. Lars hated being watched and no one wanted to risk a fight with their hated superior. But something serious must have happened if he was angry at Lena. He liked her and Marcel was pretty sure that he had other plans with her, too. Not that Lena was interested at all.

“What happened?” Marcel leaned over the desk. Lena’s desk was right next to his. He was keeping his voice down. If there was anything their boss hated more than being a target of unwanted attention, it was gossiping in the office.

“Humanity can always underwhelm itself, that’s what happened!” Lena cried out, ending all hope for Marcel to learn something about the investigation.

“Schulz!” Lars’ voice cut through the usual buzz of the station. “You’re not sharing information on an ongoing investigation with outsiders! And Schmelzer, you should focus on your job, as useless as it might be!”

The two good friends couldn’t have been treated more differently by their boss. Although, considering Lars’ attraction towards Lena, their friendship might have been the reason for Lars’ dislike of Marcel. If only he had known that the blonde certainly didn’t pose a threat to his chances. Rather, it was Lars’ personality that did.

“We can talk in the kitchen.” Lena whispered as soon as their boss disappeared into his own office. Marcel nodded and they stood up at the same time.

“Coffee?” Marcel suggested when they arrived in the small room. He already got two cups ready and was opening the coffee box.

“You are reading my thoughts.” Lena sighed and sat down on one of the chairs around the single table. They weren’t a big police station and half of the policemen working there were patrolling the streets.

“You look troubled.” Marcel said, knowing that it was all that his colleague needed to start blurting out everything without thinking.

“It’s because of the baby’s grandparents.” She started.

“Emma.” Marcel corrected her weakly.

“What?”

“Her name is Emma. At least, that’s how Mats calls her.” Marcel explained.

“I see.” Lena smiled. “A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Anyways, her grandparents are the most awful people in the world! At first, I was mad at the baby’s – Emma’s parents for leaving her on the street. If her mother’s folks are like her father’s, I can understand them. You know what, they didn’t even give their son a chance!”

Her outrage wasn’t making any sense, but the passion with which she spoke reassured Marcel that they were truly horrible people. Now he only had to wait a bit to know, why. He poured coffee into two cups and sat down next to Lena. She took a sip of the hot beverage and sighed gratefully.

“You are making the best coffee in the city, Marcel.” She smiled approvingly and Marcel blushed again. He wasn’t taking compliments well. “So back to Emma’s dad. He was sixteen when he left the family home. The usual business – he mixed with the wrong guys. I’m pretty sure he wanted a way out, he had been a talented student, but his parents wouldn’t help him, because ‘he had brought shame to them’.” She snorted as she probably quoted them. “He must have joined a gang or something because he was in the scope of the police just after he turned nineteen. He most probably was involved in a few robberies. He was almost caught but then, he was found dead. His bosses couldn’t have been satisfied with him.” She finished the sad story of Emma’s father.

For a few seconds, a heavy silence fell on them, but Marcel couldn’t wait much longer. He had to know the answer to the question that had been troubling him. He cleared his throat and finally croaked out. “And what about Emma?”

“What do you think?” Lena snapped. “They didn’t want a drug-addict son, they don’t want to hear about his baby. They didn’t even know that he had a kid. Who knows, maybe _he_ didn’t know.” She mused.

There was real anger burning in her eyes when she spoke about Emma’s grandparents and Marcel could understand her. At some point in his life, Lena’s brother had to cope with drug problems and Lena must have known how hard it was for people who had never wanted anything bad to happen to them, just had made some wrong decisions in life. But still, he couldn’t hide his relief upon learning that the only known relatives of Emma didn’t want to take care of her.

“And what was that with your act in front of Lars?” Marcel asked. Lena jerked her head up. “I know that the guy’s story upset you, but you are a professional and you would never let your emotions get in the way.”

“Oh, that!” She smirked sheepishly as if she had been caught doing something shameful. “Well, you told me that you wanted to know everything about the case, and I gathered that if Lars would kick me out of his team, maybe you would be chosen to take over my place.”

“That’s a rubbish plan.” Marcel said without hesitation. “Lars will never kick you out of his team and he will never choose me for his team. So please stop that! I really need to have a heads-up on this case!” He pleaded.

“So you can impress someone?” She suggested and Marcel wanted to smack himself for falling into her trap.

“It has nothing to do with Mats!” He shouted. “Or, at least not in the way you think it does.” He corrected himself.

“Come on, Marcel, tell me what’s going on! You owe me that much!” Lena chuckled.

“Okay, why not?” Marcel finally decided. If there was anyone who could help them, it was Lena. “So Mats has decided that he wants to adopt Emma.”

“Wow, that’s some news!” Lena was left amazed. It took her some time to compose herself. “I thought he was only taking care of her until a place in a foster home would be available.”

Shit! Marcel had forgotten about that prospect completely. He quickly remembered when the lady who was supposed to look after Emma would come back from her vacation. Two days – that’s all they had.

“Well, it started like that, but he likes his new role. I think he is filling out an application to become a foster parent right now.” Marcel said with pride of his accomplishment. It was completely his merit that Mats had admitted his wish.

“I think it might be late for that.” Lena brought him down. “And even if not, I don’t think they will let him take care of a baby. He’s a big name in football, right? That’s what you said about him.”

“Yes, he is.” Marcel said dryly. How could Lena be so ignorant of football? Mats was a world champion after all!

“I presume that he is busy, then. I don’t give him a lot of chance.” She shrugged.

“So you are saying that it’s hopeless?” Marcel raised his eyebrow.

“Not necessarily.” She smiled. Marcel knew that smile all too well and it didn’t predict anything good for him. “But someone with a more ‘mundane’ profession could be given the custody of Emma.” She looked suggestively at Marcel.

“Who, me?” He panted for air. “Why would it help Mats become Emma’s fa–”

“Really?” Lena sighed disappointed in Marcel’s deduction.

“Oh, no!” Marcel shouted when the penny finally dropped. “No, that’s not going to happen!”

“Why not? It’s a win-win situation. You would make an awesome father, Mats would become Emma’s dad even if not officially, and you would live with the man of your dreams. Just think about it.” She smirked and got up, ready to leave. And no matter how hard he tried, Marcel couldn’t help but think about the possibility.


	14. An Important Intervention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for bearing with me and the boys in this story, I promise you don't have to wait too long for them finally making the next steps. Mats only needs one final 'push' and I hope you will like it, please let me know what you think of this chapter. And to understand Marco's reaction to Marcel's comment, please bear in mind that this story is set last summer. :-)

Mats leaned back satisfied. This afternoon couldn’t have been any better. He had sent his application to Marcel’s friend who had been very helpful and had reassured him that they would consider his case very quickly, since it was special. After that, he had fed Emma and she was now sleeping peacefully in the next room. And more importantly, Marcel supported him. Mats hadn’t known how much the other man’s support had meant to him until the policeman had sat down next to him and comforted him in that so special way.

Life was wonderful and nothing could ruin Mats’ mood. Except for the knocking on the door and the man standing in front of his door.

“Marco!” He sighed frustrated. “I thought I told you not to come here until tomorrow!”

“What’s this hostility, Mats? Don’t you like to see an old friend?” Marco laughed as he stepped into the house without Mats’ invitation.

“Believe me, I wouldn’t have anything against a friend’s visit.” Mats grumbled, but Marco didn’t hear him or he chose to ignore him.

“How is your kiddo doing?” Marco asked.

“She is sleeping and I’d be glad if you could keep your voice down so it stays that way.” Mats said as they walked into the living room.

“Oh, sorry.” Marco whispered, a playful smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He was a dork and he couldn’t take anything seriously – apart from football. “But I see that you stopped denying that you are her daddy now.”

Mats sighed. Was he supposed to tell Marco about his plan? He wasn’t sure what his teammates would say to the idea, or his bosses. He knew that Kloppo wouldn’t be thrilled, but he also knew that his coach wouldn’t try to stop him, either. And Mats had to tell them sooner rather than later because the authorities would check his background with his employers, too. And, he had to supply names of three friends who would be asked about his maturity. He already knew that he would give them a contact on Barbara, his old-time friend and Emma’s doctor as things stood, but he was clueless about the other two. Marco would have been an obvious choice, but it was suicidal to trust his teammate with such an important role. He wanted to become Emma’s dad officially and he wouldn’t forgive Marco if it hadn’t come through because of him.

“Marco?” He started, trying to push the thought that he was making a mistake into the back of his mind. “I want to adopt her.”

“What the f–!” Marco cried out, swallowing down the last word, much to Mats’ delight. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Is there a problem with that?” Mats raised his eyebrow.

“No, it just surprised me! Are you sure? I mean, you’re a busy football player and–”

“Oh, don’t give me that lesson!” Mats snapped. “I remember what you were like after Nico was born. You kept showing everyone pictures of him and what a great uncle you would be and that you would spoil him to no end. So I know that you understand me, Marco. I’m not getting any younger, and I’m no different than any human. I want a kid, Marco, and it’s the right time for that. I feel settled in Dortmund and I’m sure I could manage with Emma.” He said, surprised by his own determination.

“I know you would.” Marco smiled and his look was encouraging. There was no sign of mockery or his dorkiness. He meant what he said and it was a huge relief for Mats.

“Would you be willing to tell it to child care, too?” He blurted out suddenly. Marco might have been dense, but in the end, he was a true friend and Mats knew that he could rely on him.

“Yeah, why not?” Marco shrugged, with his usual tendency to jump into things without considering his decisions.

“Great! Now I only have to find one more person…” Mats mused out loud.

“I hope you’ve already asked your prince charming.” Marco noted dryly and seeing Mats’ baffled expression, he continued. “I mean the policeman. Marcel, right?”

“He’s not my prince charming.” Mats said reproachfully.

“Oh, come on! You’ve always had a soft spot for blondes.” Marco snorted. “If we weren’t teammates and if I wasn’t taken, I’m sure you would have tried your luck with me, too.”

“Shut up!” Mats snapped and threw a pillow at Marco. “And don’t be so sure of yourself. I would never hit on you.”

“And you said nothing about prince charming.” Marco nodded, very satisfied with himself. “I knew that I was right.”

“Okay, Marco, listen to me for once! I will say it slowly so you will understand: Marcel is a great guy, he helps me a lot and I’m grateful to him. But there’s nothing more between us and I don’t think there will ever be. It’s not like I’m falling in love with him or anything.”

And right then, Emma started to cry so loud that Mats sprung up immediately and darted out of the room. He feared that his little angel was in pain. But everything seemed to be right. Emma must have dreamed something bad or she had felt alone after she had woken up. Mats took her in his arms immediately and tried to hush her, but to no avail. Emma’s crying only got louder and more painful. Mats stood hopeless and went to the living room, looking for some help from Marco, but his teammate only flinched when he heard Emma from so close.

“I don’t know what’s going on!” Mats explained. “She has always stopped crying when I picked her up.” He was panicking.

“Isn’t she like hungry or something?” Marco asked, covering his ears but it was pointless. Emma’s wails were too loud to be drowned by anything. It was getting scary.

“No, she ate before she fell asleep and I checked her diaper.” Mats shook his head and started to rock Emma.

“Whatever her problem is, just soothe her before the neighbors call the police.” Marco shouted over Emma’s crying. “It must sound we are murdering a baby here.”

Mats had already done everything he could, but Emma was still sobbing and Mats had no idea when would it stop. And there was a knock on his door indeed, as if Marco had sensed what was going on. “Could you please open the door?” Mats asked him and the blonde nodded and climbed out of the armchair.

“It’s the police.” He returned a few seconds later. Mats’ eyes widened in terror. If Marco had been right and someone had called the police, he was sure that they would take Emma away from him. But, the next moment, his newest visitor appeared behind Marco and Mats sighed relieved when he saw Marcel stepping into the living room.

“Hi there!” He greeted them and inspected the situation within a blink of an eye. “Oh, my! What happened?” He walked over to Mats, looking concerned at the baby in his arms.

“I don’t know! She woke up and started crying like this.” He explained, completely panicked now.

“I see.” Marcel nodded. He bit down on his lips and started to explain the reason for his visit, not that it was needed at all. “I just dropped by to catch you up on the news and ask how it went… you know, the thing.”

“It’s okay, Marcel, Marco knows about my plan.” Mats waved away his secrecy. He had more urgent things on his mind and he lifted Emma higher, hoping that Marcel would notice her, too.

“Guys, I’m glad you can chat so peacefully, but can’t you shut her up somehow first?” Marco winced when Emma started another wave of agonized crying.

“Can’t you arrest him or something?” Mats groaned frustrated, nodding his head in Marco’s direction.

“Only if I catch him speeding or driving without a license. Or both.” Marcel chuckled and Marco shot him a look that was meant to kill the policeman for sure. Mats didn’t understand the scene in front of him, but he was too busy with Emma that he didn’t really care about it. “Here, let me show you a trick.” Marcel said.

Mats wanted to hand Emma to him, but to his surprise, Marcel stepped behind him. And then, it happened again. Marcel touched him, guiding his hands down Emma’s back to the right places. Mats had to compose himself quickly so he could stop himself from shuddering from the blonde’s soft touches and his voice so close to Mats’ ears, instructing him what to do. Mats obeyed and he started to rock Emma more gently now, holding her in his arms, Marcel’s hands on his own. And Emma fell silent all of a sudden, as if nothing had happened.


	15. Someone's Eyes Are Opened

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am with the new chapter, I hope you will like it. There's more of Mats and Marcel in it, and also Marco and Emma is just herself... Please let me know if you liked it, it is so good to hear that this story brings to you as much joy by reading it than it brings to me writing it. :-)

“There we go!” Marcel smiled.

Mats had to suppress a frustrated groan when the policeman let go of his hand just to ruffle Emma’s soft blonde hair and step away from them. Mats watched him unbelievingly. He seemed so much different then he remembered him. He wasn’t the shy and sometimes clumsy officer. His eyes took in the sight of this figure radiating confidence and his heart started to pound like a madman’s and Mats had to admit that maybe there was something in what Marco said.

But even if he was falling in love with Marcel, so what? Not that it could ever work out. First of all, he couldn’t know if Marcel was gay at all. He had a strong feeling that he was, just like he had always had with his gay teammates. In their profession, they had to be discrete about these things. And that was his next problem. Even if they got together, they couldn’t possibly live an open life. And still, his heart told him that it could work out. Maybe it was the confidence Marcel radiated or something else, but Mats felt sure that they could be together.

“Thank God!” Marco sighed relieved and he finally took his hands off his ears. “I was afraid that I would get deaf from her wailing.”

“We’d be better off with you getting mute.” Mats mumbled and Emma started to laugh, much to Mats’ amusement. Her laughter was contagious.

“Is this a conspiracy against me?” Marco snapped, feigning resentment but Mats could see that he was smiling, too. “That’s your way of thanking me for backing you? Maybe I should mention this little scene to that committee.” He thought out loud.

“Don’t you dare!” Mats sent him a cutting glance.

“What committee?” Marcel looked from one player to the other.

“I’ve handed in my application to become an adoptive parent.” Mats explained proudly. “You know, they will check my background and I’ve asked Marco to talk to them.”

“I see.” Marcel nodded. “While we are at that…” He drawled, shooting a hesitant glance in Marco’s direction. Mats followed his example and the blonde winger gulped.

“Um, I just remembered I have to make an important call. I’ll be outside in case you need me.” He stammered and got up.

“Thank you.” Mats mouthed and Marco winked at him.

“So it’s about Emma’s grandparents–” Marcel started, but before he could continue, Mats cut him short.

“They want to take care of her, right? Shit! I should have known! Why would things turn out my way?” He cursed.

“Hey, may I finish?” Marcel stopped him. “No, they don’t want to take care of Emma. They are horrible people based on what I know about them. They let their son live on the streets because he had disappointed them. They didn’t even know they had a granddaughter! So we have to find her mother now, but honestly… I don’t think there’s a big chance for that.”

“That’s good news then, right? I mean, for me.” Mats added hastily. Marcel must have thought that he was an awful man for being glad about Emma’s misfortune with her family.

“Yeah…” Marcel said and bit down on his lip. Mats knew that there was something troubling him and he was afraid of what would come next. “But you know that we only asked you to look after Emma for a few days, right? Well, the lady who volunteered to take care of her is coming back from her vacation the day after tomorrow and you will have to let her take Emma.”

“What?” Mats cried out.

“Only temporarily.” Marcel blurted out. “You are not an official foster parent, Mats. Not yet, and child care can’t let you have Emma.”

“But I don’t understand.” Mats stammered. He couldn’t stand the idea of someone taking Emma away from him. The baby must have noticed his nervousness, because she started to toss in his arms. “We’re getting on well. You know that!” He yelled almost accusingly.

“Yes, I know, Mats.” Marcel smiled tenderly. “Believe me, if it was up to me, you would already be Emma’s dad officially. But, you have to be patient. Once your application gets approved, you will be her dad. But there are certain rules and we must respect them.”

“But it can take weeks!” Mats objected. _Or months_ , but he tried not to think of that possibility.

“Have you called the number I gave you?” Marcel inquired.

“Yes.” Mats nodded.

“Then it won’t take that long. Not many parents want to become foster parents.” Marcel said.

“Okay.” Mats sighed, giving in. He jerked his head up again to look at the policeman, but something else caught his attention.

Marcel was standing with his back to the window overlooking Mats’ front yard. And there, the defender saw Marco gesturing vehemently. He first showed Mats his three fingers than he formed a speaking mouth with his hand before he pointed at Marcel and then entangled his fingers as if he was praying or begging. Mats couldn’t hold back his chuckle when he imagined what his neighbors must have thought of a man playing Activity alone in front of his house. But, at least Marco got his message through.

“Um, Marcel.” Mats started hesitantly. “You know, the child care wants to talk to my friends and I wondered if you would be willing to– I mean, if it’s not a problem– maybe you could– you know, talk to them about me.” What was wrong with him? He could ask Marco the same thing so much easier and now he was fluttering like a sheepish teenage boy.

“Sure.” Marcel reassured him. “I’ll tell them what an amazing father you will be.” He smiled at Mats.

“Thank you. It means a lot.”

“I better leave now.” Marcel checked his clock. “I only dropped by to tell you the news. I must get home quickly, before Oskar decides that my plants need further watering.”

Mats let out a soft chuckle and they walked out of the house.

“Thanks again for everything.” Mats said.

“Thank _you_ for the signature!” Marcel turned to him. “I really appreciate it.” And Mats saw that he meant it. “Goodbye Emma! Be a good girl and listen to your daddy!” The baby smiled as if she had understood what Marcel had told her.

The policeman turned around and walked down the small path leading to Mats’ front door. He waved at Marco who must have forgotten about the ‘reason’ he had left the house and he only raised his cell phone to his ears after Marcel walked past him, heading in Mats’ direction.

“Did he ask for your signature?” He asked incredulously.

“Haven’t your mother taught you that eavesdropping is bad manners?” Mats raised his eyebrow. “And no, he didn’t ask for a signature. I visited him this morning and I saw he had a poster of me on his wall, so I signed it when he wasn’t in the room.”

“Let me sum this up!” Marco started. “You blush when he touches you, he has a poster of you on his wall, you constantly make goo-goo eyes at each other, you are telling me that there’s nothing going on between you and you are calling _me_ dense? Even a blind would see that you’ve fallen for each other, Mats! You love him, admit it! And he loves you, too. I guess he has had a crush on you for a long time. Trust me, I notice things like this. And I know that you’ve noticed that you feel more than gratitude towards him. So please do yourself a favor and stop denying the inevitable.” Marco explained and Emma uttered a sound of approval.

“So tell me Mr. smarty pants, if Marcel’s so crazy in love with me, how come he hasn’t made a move yet?” Mats objected and Marco fell silent for a few seconds, looking for an explanation.

“Because of Benni!” He finally cried out as if it was the most obvious thing. “When I was here last time, I said that you two were together in front of him!”

“So it’s because of you.” Mats noted.

“Hey, let’s hate the common enemy here, shall we?” Marco raised his hands defensively. “Marcel must think that you and Benni are a couple. That’s why he has been so shy!”

Of course! Marco’s words made total sense and Mats cursed at himself for being so ignorant. Marcel hadn’t been disgusted of him, he had been disappointed that Mats wouldn’t love him back. He looked up just in time to see Marcel drive away in his car.

Yes, he loved this man and there was a chance that Marcel was in love with him, too.


	16. Gathering Storm Clouds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for your especially incredible feedback after the last chapter! I couldn't believe my eyes and I'm so happy that many gave a chance to this rather unusual pairing. I hope I'll be able to convince you of them even more and the slow build-up isn't killing you yet. This chapter is more or less a filler, but I needed to slow things down before the pace gets quicker in the next chapters. :-)

Marcel was quite pleased with himself. He hadn’t told Mats everything he had wanted to tell, but how could he speak about him adopting Emma instead of Mats when the footballer was clearly very happy to be her dad. What was he supposed to say? “That’s great, Mats, but I don’t think that the state will ever allow you to adopt a kid because you are too busy as a footballer”? No, this wasn’t the right time to mention Lena’s idea to Mats. He would talk to Mats when child care would take Emma away from him. Maybe it wouldn’t be the best time for it, either, but then, what time would?

Lena had convinced him that it would be easier for him to win Mats’ heart then for Mats to get the state’s approval to become an adoptive parent. Of course, she had had it the easiest. She didn’t have to do anything at all. Really, how was Marcel supposed to make Mats realize that he was in love with him? Marcel had heard earlier that footballers were a bit dense and had a slow comprehension, but he had always thought that it was a myth. Now that he knew two footballers closely, he wasn’t so sure about it. And based on the difference between Mats and Marco, Mats must have actually been one of the more intelligent players.

But, at least Marcel now suspected that the biggest hurdle in his way to become Mats’ boyfriend – although he still found the idea too good to believe – was gone. He couldn’t be sure of course, but everything suggested that Mats and Benni had broken up, if they had ever been together, that was.

Anyone who wanted to become a foster parent had to give the authorities contact on three people who could vouch for their parenting skills. And Marcel knew that in Mats’ case, one of them would be Marco, and one would be he himself. Naturally, he didn’t know who the third person was and he wanted to slap himself for not asking it from Mats, but he doubted that it could be Benni. Child care would ask Mats’ family about him and also his employees, so there was no reason why he should have asked two of his ‘colleagues’ to support him. There was the possibility that Mats only left Benni out because he feared that their affair would somehow be revealed, but Marcel doubted that.

If Mats was any clever, and Marcel wanted to believe that he was, he had asked someone with better credentials. He had mentioned that he had a pediatrician friend and she was the most probable candidate. A doctor always had more credit at child care. If only Lena had been here, Marcel sighed, because she would have known what to think for sure. But he couldn’t just ask her on her opinion without giving Mats away. Lena couldn’t have cared less about footballers and she most probably didn’t understand why a gay player was such a big deal, but Marcel still felt uncomfortable with talking about Mats with her. It’s not that they were a couple, and he didn’t think that he had any right to pry into his crush’s private life.

All his musings brought him to a more urgent problem of his. Whom would _he_ ask to support his wish to become an adoptive parent? Lena was the first obvious choice and Marcel didn’t even have to ask her to know that she would gladly help him. He had asked Greta – his friend working at child care – and she had agreed, supposing that it wouldn’t be her who would have to judge his application which he had filled out right after he had come home.

“Is adoption the new craze in your friend circle?” She asked in a voice so typical of clerks.

“No, I’m serious about this, Greta. And so is Mats– I mean Mr. Hummels.” He quickly corrected himself.

“I see.” She hummed. “So this has nothing to do with the little baby Mr. Hummels is currently taking care of and probably wants to adopt. It’s not like you are worried that his application might not get accepted but yours most probably will and this way you have a better chance to adopt her.”

“What?” Marcel asked amazed. Was he so obvious?

“Marcel, you two wouldn’t be the first gay couple who want to raise their chances this way…”

“No, we aren’t a couple!” Marcel snapped. “We just both love Emma. She’s adorable and if you saw her, you would understand.”

“So you are competing?” Greta asked.

“Not at all. Just please tell me, what are the chances of Mats getting her?” Marcel gave in and stopped denying.

“Honestly, I think you are doing the wise thing, Marcel.” Greta sighed. “I have nothing against Mr. Hummels, but he is a busy man. Single parents already have it hard. With Mr. Hummels’ profession… I don’t know.”

“Wait! Does that mean that I as a single man–” Marcel cut in. He couldn’t even finish the thought, it was so unbearable.

“Yes, you would have a much bigger chance if you were in a relationship. Although, your case is somewhat better. You have a usual job and you can retire soon. But, there’s the risk factor of being a police officer. If I was right with my suspicion about the plan of you two, I would advise you not to hide your relationship. We treat the information our applicants share with us very confidentially.” Greta said.

And so, Marcel hung up with a heavy heart. But he didn’t have much time to dwell on their chances. He needed a third contact and in the end, he called his brother. Marcel had taken care of his son many times when neither his brother, nor his wife were at home. And he was more than helpful.

“Has my little brother found the love of his life and are you planning to start a family? And you don’t say anything to us? Mom will be furious!”

“Oh, please.” Marcel rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing of the sort. I just want to be prepared when the opportunity comes. You wouldn’t believe how much paperwork I had to–”

“Sure thing, try to convince someone else.” He laughed. “I’m happy for you, Marcel. I just hope that he really is special.”

“Believe me, he is.” Marcel sighed wistfully.

“I can hear it in your voice! Don’t worry about anything, Jule still tells me what a wonderful uncle you are and I’m sure that you will be a hundred time better as a father, but for god’s sake, call and tell Mom before she could find out from child care!”

“I will and thank you.” Marcel ended the call.

His mother. Marcel had the feeling that he couldn’t satisfy her curiosity as easily as his brother’s and he wasn’t in the mood for a long telephone conversation. Maybe this wasn’t something they should discuss on the phone at all. No, he would visit his parents, but he would only do it tomorrow. He had made enough arrangements for today. He was about to put down his cell when it started to ring. Marcel frowned and looked at the display that simply read UNKNOWN CALLER.

“Hello?” Marcel picked up hesitantly.

“Am I talking to Mr. Schmelzer?” A chatty female voice answered.

“Yes.” Marcel drawled, expecting and explanation for the strange call.

“Good afternoon!” The woman sighed with obvious relief. “My name is Hanna Pressler. I’m a journalist and I work for–”

“Goodbye!” Marcel quickly hung up.

He couldn’t believe these journalists. Calls like this were pretty frequent, especially if their station was working on a case. The police were keen not to let any information about an ongoing investigation leak, but that never stopped journalists calling some policemen, hoping that for the right amount of money, they would get what they wanted. Marcel didn’t know what exactly that amount was, and he wasn’t ever going to find out. Not that he saw any reason for a call like this right now. There have been no burglaries in their district. But then, they had access to a state-wide database, so it could be in connection with just any case.

He left his phone on the coffee table in his living room and stood up to have dinner. He didn’t sense the slightest sign of the storm gathering above his and Mats’ head.


	17. Thunderbolt and Lightning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think this chapter needs any commentary. I just want to thank you for your support and please, enjoy this update! :-)

“Mom, I’m telling you for the thousandth time. She is not my child.” Mats almost shouted into his phone, rubbing his temples, trying to calm down.

This was the umpteenth call like this he had to answer this morning. Each of his friends, relatives and even bosses wanted to know who Emma was. Ever since a vulture reporter had decided to take pictures of him and Emma and then publish it, calling Emma Mats’ concealed child. As if Mats hadn’t had enough to worry about already!

“I’ve already told you why she is at me. The child care couldn’t give her to a foster family, so I agreed to take care of her for a few days.” Mats explained, running out of patience. “I don’t care if you believe me or not!” He snapped. “I’m telling you the truth!”

He looked out his window frustrated and groaned when he noticed at least five cars parking on the street. He knew that in each of them, there was a reporter sitting with a camera, ready to die to take just one shot of him with the baby that they could sell for good money. Mats had closed the blinds, but he knew that it was only a temporary solution. Those paparazzi wanted photos and they would get it sooner or later.

“I’m not sleeping around with just any girl, Mom!” Mats cried out when he heard his mother’s next suggestion. “That’s not my style!” He stopped, because he felt immediately that he had made a mistake. He was proven right the next moment with Mrs. Hummels’ next suggestion.

“No, that doesn’t mean that my teammates are doing things like that.” Mats rolled his eyes. “Hey, listen Mom, I must hang up. There’s another incoming call.” But, his mother wasn’t finished yet. “Of course no one is more important than you. I just need to talk to my agent. They can’t just print lies about me!”

He ended the call before his mother could protest. He had already talked to his agent and he had been less than pleased with Mats’ confession. There had been no point in denying his plans anymore and he had been open to his agent. No one could stop him in Emma’s adoption. Not his mother, not his agent, not even a too eager journalist.

He checked the caller’s number and he nodded satisfied. He had called the police to help him clear the gathering reporters in his street and it had taken them rather long to answer him.

“Hello?” He picked up annoyed.

“Good morning, Mr. Hummels. I’m calling from the police station. We have sent an officer to keep the reporters away, he should arrive any time.”

“Thank you.” Mats sighed relieved. This nightmare would end soon. No, it probably wouldn’t end, but it would get better.

“You’re welcome. We are here to serve the citizens. If there’s any other way we can help you, just tell the officer.”

Mats didn’t even listen to this advertisement block, he hung up and took another glance at the world outside. Nothing changed and he checked his watch impatiently. When would that police car finally arrive?

 

* * *

 

Marcel hated to be late. His boss already despised him, there was no point in giving him further reasons to tell him off in front of his colleagues and yet, Marcel constantly came up with ways to frustrate Lars. He knew that he was in trouble the moment he entered the station. Lena stood up to warn him, but before she could open her mouth, Lars exploded out from his office and shouted his name. Marcel followed him inside with his head hanging low, readying himself for another stern telling off. At least, it wouldn’t happen in front of everyone.

“Sit down, Schmelzer!” Lars spat when Marcel closed the door behind him. The blonde walked to his desk and followed the order, biting down on his lip. Was he supposed to say something in his defense, or would it only make his case worse?

“Um, boss, I’m sorry I’m being late again, but–” He tried, but Lars silenced him with a sudden jerk of his hand.

“I’m not interested in your pathetic excuses.” He said, rather bored. “I want to know how well you get along with Mr. Hummels.”

Marcel couldn’t breathe suddenly. What was this supposed to mean? How could Lars know about them– or at least him having a crush on Mats? This had to be a nightmare! It couldn’t be true. He forced some air into his lungs and spoke up in a voice much weaker he had hoped to be.

“What?” He squealed. Lars shot him a questioning look, but he didn’t seem to be too interested in Marcel’s strange behavior or his deep-red blush.

“You talked to him in the baby case. At least, I suppose you talked?” He elaborated, but Marcel still wasn’t clear about what was going on.

“Yes, we did.” The blonde officer drawled.

“And? Are you on speaking terms or have you managed to make him dislike you with your ridiculous clumsiness?” Lars asked menacingly.

“No, we speak. I mean, we haven’t had a fight or anything and–” Marcel tried to explain, each time putting himself in a more embarrassing position than he had been in.

“Please, spare me the details.” Lars shook his head. “Mr. Hummels called today. He has some problems with some reporters gathering around his house. I suppose I don’t have to tell you that it means that he will have great publicity in the next few days. And I want to be mentioned in a good light!” He shouted, never even trying to pretend that he is acting in the station’s interest. “So you will go to his house and see how you can help him. You will be friendly and you will do everything he asks you to do. Lick his ass as far as I’m concerned if he asks you to do it! You can’t blow this up, Schmelzer! If there will be just one wrong word about me in the papers or that my people don’t treat citizens well, you are fired, do I make myself clear?”

Marcel nodded weakly. All strength left him. What was going on in Mats’ house? Had something happened?

“Here’s his address.” Lars handed him a piece of paper. Not that Marcel needed it. He knew the way there by heart. And he was going to get there with a stomach tight as a knot.

 

* * *

 

Mats mumbled a prayer of thanks when the police car finally stopped in front of his house. As he had expected, the reporters’ cars started off immediately and they fled in different directions. He cheered triumphantly and stepped away from the window. Emma was sleeping peacefully in her crib, not having the slightest idea about her newly found popularity. Mats didn’t dare to look on the Internet, afraid of the scenarios some of his fans might have come up with. Why couldn’t every fan be like Marcel?  The policeman clearly admired Mats as a player but he respected him and didn’t treat him like a star face to face. For him, Mats was a human being and the defender was grateful for that.

There was a knock on his door and Mats rushed to answer it. It must have been the police officer to check that everything was alright inside. He wasn’t expecting the blonde standing there and Mats grinned when he saw him.

“Marcel!” He cried out joyfully, but the shorter man didn’t share his feelings. He looked concerned and he stepped into the house without invitation, not that Mats minded it the least. He closed the door.

“What’s going on, Mats? Is Emma safe? Are _you_ alright?” He asked and his voice broke many times while he did so. Mats watched him astonished, a wave of emotion surging through him. Marco had been right: this man clearly loved him.

“Mats, please say something. If anything hap–” Marcel started, but the last words were swallowed down by Mats’ hungry mouth. He closed down the distance between them and pressed their lips together, hoping that Marcel would answer the kiss. It felt like Mats’ whole life depended on it. If Marcel, the man he loved so madly, would push him away, his world would crumble.

But, he didn’t have to worry, because after a moment of hesitation and shock, Marcel’s lips started to move in unison with his.


	18. Kiss Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for the amazing feedback you are gifting me with. I wouldn't have thought that so many would come to like this story, and I'm so so happy that you did! I know it had a rather slow build-up, but hopefully the next chapters will make up for it, there will be som fluffy moments for Marcel and Mats for sure. :-)

Marcel wanted someone to pinch him so he would know that this was real. But then, if this _was_ a dream after all, it was the nicest and most intense he had ever had and he didn’t want to wake up from it. He didn’t want to lose the sensation and so he concentrated on Mats’ lips caressing him. They were softer and sweeter than he had imagined them and he had done it many times. It felt like everything stood still. His heart definitely forgot to beat and he just couldn’t get enough air into his lungs anymore. Mats kissed him senselessly and when Marcel overcame his haze, and started to reply to the defender’s ministration, the taller man gained momentum and put more passion into his movements.

Their beards scratched the other one’s chin, but it was the least of their concern, the mild electric jolts between their lips made up for it completely. Marcel was lost in the moment and when his brain ordered his lips to part so he could get more oxygen, Mats used it to push his tongue into Marcel’s mouth. The blonde moaned and whined in pure bliss. He was going out of his mind, it was official. His own tongue awakened and accepted Mats’ invitation for a dance. It first moved shyly, but the skilled muscle found its rhythm easily, aided and led by Mats’ confidence.

It was the best kiss Marcel had ever had and he knew that nothing would be sweeter and more perfect than this. He didn’t know how much time passed until Mats eventually pulled back, gulping for air. They looked each other in the eye for a long moment, their eyes dilated with their arousal. They didn’t speak; there was nothing on their mind that could be expressed with words. All the frustration, all the feelings for the other one they had held back, all the love they felt for each other surfaced in a sudden rush of emotions and neither of them wanted to stop it.

Mats’ bruised and swollen lips curled up in a sheepish smile and he brought his hand to Marcel’s cheek. He hesitated for a moment if he was allowed to touch the policeman, but Marcel didn’t leave him space for doubts. He leaned into the soft touch and closed his eyes as the calloused fingers caressed him, treating him as if he was made of a very fragile porcelain.

Once their breathing got normal again, Mats closed down the distance between them and pushed his face against Marcel’s neck. His tongue licked over the sensitive skin and he dabbed countless soft pecks on it, driving Marcel crazy. He enjoyed the sensation more than he could tell, but his brain finally overcame the shock and his thoughts started to make some sense.

“We. Shouldn’t. Do. This.” He sighed in between Mats’ kisses, a high-pitched moan escaping his lips after each word. The footballer didn’t stop. He only hummed in agreement, but the series of his kisses continued.

“The. Reporters. Can. Come. Back.” Marcel gasped. His manhood had twitched to life and it was threatening to tear through his pants.

Another hum.

“Emma?” He tried in his last despair.

“In. The. Living. Room.” Mats copied his style of speaking. “Sleeping.”

“Oh, screw it!” Marcel groaned frustrated. He put his hands on Mats’ cheeks and lifted the defenders head, pressing their lips together again so forcefully that the taller man stumbled back.

Marcel immediately regretted his rushed conclusion from earlier. Of course there could be a kiss even sweeter than their first one. This one was. And the hopefully millions of kisses following it would each be better than the one before them. Mats’ masculine scent filled Marcel’s nostrils and that alone was fulfilling. But then, the defender grabbed the nape of Marcel’s neck, pulling him even closer to a point where Marcel couldn’t even tell their mouths from one another. Their tongues never stopped touching while Mats tugged the blonde along in a very clear direction.

Marcel gave up all his resistance and he followed Mats. He would go with him wherever the footballer would take him, because with Mats by his side, even hell would be paradise. Luckily though, the defender chose a much more pleasant destination. The most sacred place on earth Marcel could imagine – Mats’ bedroom.

They plopped down on the huge bed, Mats cushioning their fall with his strong figure. They didn’t break their kiss for a split second, the sensation too great to have enough of it. Their bodies touched and they were so close to each other that nothing would fit in between them. Marcel was ashamed of his huge boner that must have poked Mats’ legs and occasionally his flat abdomen. But then, he felt Mats’ impressively hard and long manhood against his own belly and he forgot about everything else apart from his ecstasy. He couldn’t believe that it was him who made a world-class footballer react this way. And yet, it was true.

Mats writhed under him, seemingly without any ideas, but Marcel sensed that he had something in his mind. Indeed, Mats didn’t stop until their proud cocks brushed against each other through their pants and they cried out in unison, finally braking their record-length kiss.

“You wouldn’t believe how much I wanted to do this!” Mats breathed.

“I’m glad you finally did.” Marcel grinned like an idiot, his face blushing red from the almost unbearable heat their bodies radiated.

“I was so blind not to see…” Mats continued.

“Shh!” Marcel put his index finger on his lips. Mats kissed it immediately, as if he wanted to taste Marcel every second. “Don’t talk.” He said, lowering himself on top of Mats. He wasn’t sure if they could continue. He was in pretty good shape, but their kisses had taken a lot of energy from him, and Mats seemed somewhat drained, too.

Apparently, his movement was too slow for Mats. The defender flung his arms around him and he pulled him to himself before he hauled them, rolling on the bed, trapping Marcel under his strong body. He looked the happiest man alive and it made Marcel’s heart race. Just when Mats was about to kiss him again, they heard a cracking sound, as if someone had stepped on a branch outside.

“The reporters!” Marcel gasped in shock, remembering why he had come here in the first place.

“I’ve closed all the blinds in the house.” Mats shrugged. “Don’t worry, they can’t see us, _sweetheart_.”

“No, I should go out and tell them to fuck off!” Marcel said determined, trying to push Mats off himself.

It was a hopeless undertaking. The footballer was stronger than him and he held himself firmly above the blonde. He couldn’t be moved unless he wanted to. But something in Marcel’s eyes must have convinced him, because he gave way to the blond with a sigh. Marcel sprung up from the bed immediately and started to arrange his clothes. He had to look as if nothing had happened between them.

“So the reporters are more important than me?” Mats pouted.

“Of course not.” Marcel smiled. “But they have to be stopped. They can’t just take photos whenever and wherever they like, stalking and disturbing you.”

“You are so cute when you are working!” Mats laughed, lying on the bed, propping himself up on his elbow. He looked temptingly at Marcel, his eyes trying to lure him back to the bed. “Can’t I convince you to forget about them?”

“Five minutes.” Marcel said and turned around, heading out from the room. He checked his looks in the mirror, and he decided that he was presentable. Lars had asked him to serve Mats every way possible, but he was sure that his boss hadn’t exactly meant it _this_ way.

He was about to cross the threshold of Mats’ room when something soft hit the back of his neck and then fell on the floor without making a sound. Marcel was afraid to turn around and see what it was, he just stood frozen in his place, until Mats’ hoarse voice brought him out of his powerlessness.

“Are you sure?” The defender asked and Marcel couldn’t help but give in to the voice.

Mats still lay on the bed, but one very important detail changed. The T-shirt he had been wearing was now lying at Marcel’s feet and Mats showed off the most perfect torso Marcel had ever seen.


	19. Fireworks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many of you told me that you hoped that Emma would give Mats and Marcel some time to enjoy themselves undisturbed, so here it is. Please, let me know what you think of it. :-)

Mats’ lips were on fire from their ardent kissing but it was nothing compared to the fire that burned inside his heart. All the frustration he had felt from his denial of his love for Marcel was gone, and it gave way to the most intense feeling he had ever felt. He had never known what true love felt like, not the love for another human being. He had enjoyed spending time with Benni and sex was great with him, but it had been nothing more. There had been no emotions involved.

The blonde in front of him now was different though. When Mats looked at Marcel, he saw the same passion burning in his eyes. He could feel the police officer’s heart racing in his chest, taking on the rhythm of Mats’ heartbeats. He knew very well that he was teasing Marcel. He was doing more than that. He was tantalizing the blonde who didn’t seem to be able to resist his desires. Mats had hoped for the same. He finally had his hands on the love of his life and he wasn’t going to let go of him that easily. Because Marcel _was_ the love of his life, without any doubt.

Mats’ heart missed a beat whenever he thought of the blonde, his manhood woke up whenever he thought of him in that very special way and most of his waking hours, he was thinking of him. If this wasn’t true love, Mats didn’t even want to know what it was. It certainly couldn’t be better than what he was feeling right now.

“Maybe I should–” Marcel tried to talk himself out of Mats’ plots, but it was hopeless. The defender saw that the blonde was caught between two fires. On one hand, there was his duty. On the other, something much more tempting.

Seeing Marcel’s face, Mats could imagine what the ancient seamen had had to go through hearing the sirens’ call. They had had their families waiting for them at home. They had had a job, a duty to fulfill, and yet, they had chosen the luring and so dangerous song. Because what they were about to do was dangerous and some might call it crazy, Mats was aware of that. They both had a job, a living and they were risking it with being together, but he couldn’t have cared less. He was determined to gain speed and take whatever might come. Maybe if they would hit the shoal and the rocks hard enough, they would give way instead of Marcel’s and Mats’ ship crashing.

“No, you shouldn’t.” Mats said determined and he reached for Mats with his free hand. The policeman gulped and made a faltering step, but he forgot his resistance very quickly, his legs acting on their own accord and before he knew it, he was already standing next to Mats’ bed again and the footballer was pulling him down next to himself.

Marcel’s initial hesitation was gone completely. He lowered himself on Mats and his lips found the raven-haired man’s sensitive nipples immediately. He sucked on them gently and Mats moaned in pleasure, writhing under the shorter one’s body. He wanted to get up and somehow get a hold on the police officer, he wasn’t satisfied with the role of someone simply savoring the ardent touches the other one gifted him with. He wanted to give something back to Marcel, but the blonde didn’t want to be moved and he kept dictating the tempo of their continuing lovemaking.

Soon, Marcel wandered lower, kissing and admiring Mats’ toned abs. The occasional glimpse Mats got of the blonde’s eyes told him that Marcel couldn’t get enough of the sight in front of him nor the body under him. His kisses got fierier and he got lost in them, allowing Mats to act on his own. He slid his hands between them and he loosened Marcel’s tie before he started to unbutton his beige shirt. The policeman didn’t seem to notice it. When he reached Mats’ belt, he came to a halt and drew back shyly, as if he was frightened to continue. The defender showed him his warmest smile, encouraging the blonde to go on.

“It’s okay, Marcel.” He said, still smiling. “I didn’t bring you to my bed to just kiss.”

Marcel looked at him with a bewildered expression, as if he had trouble processing what the footballer told him. But, he recovered from his shock very quickly and quickly took off his tie and shirt, showing Mats his trunk.

It was nothing like Mats’. Marcel was strong, but it was a different kind of strength. There was more physicality to it, one that would serve the blonde well in combat. Seeing Marcel’s broad shoulders, Mats couldn’t help but imagine the policeman as an ice hockey player. His skin was pale, and looked even whiter compared to Mats’ sun-tanned body. Marcel endured his inspection calmly, but Mats could sense that he was all nerves. He must have feared that he would let him down, fail to meet his expectations.

“You’re beautiful!” Mats sighed, dispelling all of Marcel’s worries. The blonde blushed immediately and tried to hide it, but it was impossible. Not that he had to hide anything from Mats. Everything he did, the footballer found adorable and made him fall in love with Marcel even more.

He ran his hands up Marcel’s flanks and brought them down on his chest and abs, the soft hair caressing his fingers. His hands stopped on the blonde’s hips and he sat up to give Marcel a quick peck before he pushed him down onto the mattress, straddling him and taking the initiative.

Marcel looked at him expectantly and Mats didn’t give him much time to wonder about what he had in mind. He unbuckled Marcel’s belt and unbuttoned his pants, loosening the tight prison Marcel’s hard manhood had found itself trapped in. Mats saw a small wet spot on the blonde’s shorts where his pre-come had dabbed the soft material. The raven-haired couldn’t hold back anymore, he reached into his own boxers and freed his erect cock.

Marcel avoided looking at it at first, but then, he glanced at it and his eyes became glued to it. Mats gave him time to get comfortable and relax again. It happened a minute later when Marcel’s trembling hand reached for Mats’ shaft. He only brushed over the pulsing member, but Mats feared that that single touch could send him over the edge. He got his self-control back, but a moan of bliss escaped his lips. It was all the encouragement Marcel needed. He wrapped his fingers around the shaft and started to stroke Mats.

He was slow and tender and Mats appreciated it, because he wanted this moment to last as long as possible and in his present state, he wasn’t sure how long it would be if Marcel wasn’t careful. He pulled down the last garment covering Marcel’s cock. He didn’t wait. He grabbed it immediately, not inspecting it, because it belonged to Marcel and there was nothing else he needed to know. The blonde joined him in his moaning as Mats’ skilled fingers started to pleasure him, his thumb brushing over the sensitive head now and then.

They were out of breath after a few seconds, too lost in their ecstasy to notice what they were doing or what sounds they were making. They didn’t even care. They were finally together and there was nothing they should have felt ashamed of in front of each other. They didn’t hold back, they let their lovemaking take them.

“Mats, I think I’m going to–” Marcel started, but before he could finish the sentence, Mats intercepted with a harsh cry as he reached his own climax, shooting his load on the blonde’s belly. Marcel followed him after a few seconds and the creamy proof of their orgasms pooled around his navel.

Their eyes were locked and they didn’t look away until their breathings calmed down. Mats had trouble holding himself up on his knees so he lowered himself on Marcel, his face only a centimeter away from the police officer’s.

“I love you.” Marcel said all of a sudden. The sheer honesty of his confession startled Mats. It didn’t take long though, and the corners of his lips curled up in a warm smile.

“I love you, too.” He said and it felt as if their hearts beat the same moment, sealing that special connection between them called love.


	20. Back to Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can only thank you again for your wonderful and overwhelming support. I hope you will love the next chapter as well. It's time for Mats and Marcel to face reality again and start working to become a family with little Emma. I hope you will support their struggles and pelase, tell me your opinion about the update if you'd like to. :-)

Marcel would have liked to stay like that forever, with Mats lying on top of him. He caressed the soft black strands, curling them around his fingers and breathing in the taller man’s scent. The footballer purred like a content cat and moaned lightly as Marcel massaged the skin on his head. It was a perfect moment and everything seemed to be blissful, until a baby’s cry cut their intimate time short. Mats took a deep breath and slowly sat up, chuckling.

“The girl’s got timing, you’ve got to give her that.” He laughed, shaking his head in amusement. His happiness was contagious and Marcel started to smile. He had all reason to do so. “Do you want to take care of her?” Mats asked.

“Um–” Marcel drawled, biting down on his lip and pointing at the sticky proof of their pleasure still visible on his abdomen.

“Yeah, right.” Mats blushed in embarrassment. “Um, you know where the bathroom is. You can use any towel you find there.” He said and reached forward for Marcel. The blonde grabbed his hand and he helped him up, pulling him in for a tight embrace immediately. Marcel didn’t resist. He loved the feeling of Mats’ strong arms around him. They gave him security and a sense of belonging somewhere, to someone. He was Mats’ and Mats was his and nothing would change that, or at least, he hoped so. They would have stayed like that if it wasn’t for Emma’s next grunt.

“I’d better go.” Mats sighed, almost apologetically. Marcel nodded and they both took a step back and left the room. Mats was headed for the living room and Marcel walked into the bathroom.

This couldn’t be true. He had just made Mats Hummels a happy man. He just couldn’t believe it. He had imagined them together many times, he had imagined how he would pleasure the footballer, but reality was so much more perfect than any dream could be. A wistful sigh escaped his lips as he wet a towel and cleaned himself, mindful to wash the towel afterwards. He was grinning all the time. He had heard many times that people in love felt like they were walking an inch above the ground and he hadn’t believed it. Now, he felt like he was feet above the ground.

When he was done, he snuck back into the bedroom and put on his shirt and tie, carefully arranging them. He had to take care of the reporters and ask them to leave and he didn’t want to look suspiciously. That would have catastrophic results for Mats and him, too. Lars had asked him to ‘lick Mats’ ass if needed’, but Marcel was quite sure he hadn’t meant it literally, not that they had come to that. But with time…

“Look whom we have here, little Emma!” Mats appeared in the doorway with the baby in his arms. Emma eyes were a bit puffy, but Marcel could still see the vitality so characteristic of this wonderful little angel. And she looked quite happy and proud, as if Mats and Marcel spending quality time together in a room and on a bed had pleased her. “She’s just woken up and I think she is hungry.” Mats caught Marcel up on the news. The policeman couldn’t imagine why it was needed, but he was glad that Mats had done so nonetheless. It told him that the defender cared about him and wanted him to get more involved in his life.

“I’ll check the reporters in the meantime.” Marcel announced and Mats stepped out of his way.

“Will you have to arrest someone?” Mats asked with a child’s excitement burning in his eyes.

“Most probably not.” Marcel laughed. “They only need to see a police officer to suddenly remember the law and that they can’t take photos anywhere and of anyone and then publish it.”

“It’s too bad.” Mats pouted, disappointed. “I would have liked to see you tackling a reporter to the ground, throwing away his camera and locking him in handcuffs.” He shared his imagination wistfully.

“I don’t think so.” Marcel snickered. “If I arrested someone, I would have to take him to the station, fill out a lot of forms, do the paperwork and spend time working. Time that I could spend with you, for example.” He whispered teasingly from the front door. Mats’ expression changes, his smile is frozen in its place.

“I’ll take that back. You are more needed here.” He finally recovered and his comment made Marcel burst out laughing as he opened the door and stepped out of the house.

Just like he suspected, a few reporters had returned and were now standing with their cars on the other side of the street. Marcel stood on Mats’ front porch and measured them with a cutting glance. He didn’t see their faces behind the darkened car windows but he could imagine their dilemma. They knew how much their bosses would pay for an exclusive information or a new shot, but was it worth risking getting into trouble with the police? It was all up to Marcel’s posture and body language now. He hated to use his authority this way. He had become a policeman to serve people, not to scare them away and misuse his authority for his own amusement.

In the end, it seemed that the journalists’ – although Marcel had trouble thinking about them this way – fear was stronger because each of them drove off. Marcel nodded satisfied, but he still decided to circle the house. He was sure that he had heard a man lurking outside while he had been kissing Mats and he wanted to check if the paparazzo had left. His search didn’t bring him any results. He thought that he saw a shadow quickly rushing away when he approached the footballer’s backyard, but he couldn’t be sure. He hoped that he was successful again and he promised himself that he would go cruising regularly.

When Marcel entered the house again, he found Mats with Emma in the living room, Mats burping the baby. The blonde saw that he had gotten better and more comfortable in dealing with Emma and the sight warmed his heart. Or, it would have, if Mats’ face hadn’t turned into the newest shade of white. Marcel cleared his throat, not to scare Mats with his appearance and walked to the footballer.

“What’s wrong?” _Darling_ , he added in himself. Mats had already given him a pet name and hearing it had been the most amazing feeling Marcel had ever felt. But, he didn’t think that he was ready to do the same to Mats. The time might have not been right, especially seeing the footballer’s horrid expression.

“Greta called.” Mats said simply and Marcel understood the seriousness of the situation immediately. He could guess the topic of their conversation easily: Emma. He might have told Mats about child care taking her away from him, hopefully only for a few days, but he could relate to the footballer’s hard feelings. Emma already meant the world to him and he didn’t want to lose her even if it was only temporary. “She told me that Emma would go to foster care tomorrow morning. She thinks that I should take her to your police station so the old lady can pick her up. Given the circumstances.”

“That’s sensible.” Marcel nodded. “Look, Mats, I know that it’s hard, but you have to let it happen. I’m sure that you will get her back sooner rather than later.”

“No, it’s not that.” Mats shook his head. “I’ve already accepted it and I don’t have a problem with that.” He sighed. “Greta also told me that they are treating my case with extra care and speed because of the special case and because I helped them. So they would send an employee to check my house and my living environment tomorrow.”

“But that’s wonderful news!” Marcel cried out. He would have to check his voicemail, too. Maybe Greta had the same news for him, too.

“Oh, really? Tell me, how am I supposed to clean my house up in a day and ready everything for an inspection? God, it’s impossible!” Mats whined in despair.

“Calm down, Mats.” Marcel smiled. “Your house doesn’t look that horribly. You don’t have to change anything, you should show them how you really live. It’s better than any pretense could be. Don’t make a big deal out of it. And, there won’t be a problem with tidying up, either. You don’t have to do it alone anymore, remember?” He asked and he could finally make the footballer smile.


	21. A Promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is more or less a filler, but I can tell you that from the next chapter on, the story will speed up a lot. :-) I hope you will like this update, please let me know what you think of it.

It was already evening when they finished with cleaning Mats’ house. Not that they had been too focused on their task the entire time. They stopped for quick kissing sessions every ten minutes, like two young teenagers who couldn’t get enough of the other one after they had just gotten together. Marcel had volunteered to do the dusting and he had found Mats stopping him over and over, taking the cloth from him, although the blonde had a very strong suspicion that it was their hands brushing against each other Mats was after instead of cleaner shelves. Marcel hadn’t minded, though. He had been in seventh heaven ever since their first kiss and nothing suggested that it would change soon.

And yet, it did. As he climbed the few stairs leading to the front door of his house, he sensed that something wasn’t right. He thrust his key into the keyhole, but he didn’t hear his dog’s usual welcoming footsteps as he would pace up and down in the hall, waiting for their walk. And Oskar must have been anxious for him to come home, because he had only walked him in the morning. He thought that something had happened to his little friend, but the next moment he had to realize that he had been on the wrong track. His key wouldn’t turn and he noticed incredulously that his door was already open.

He quickly ran over the short list of everyone who had keys to his house and one prospect was more horrible than the other. He stormed into the living room and he sighed relieved when he saw ‘only’ Lena sitting in his armchair, Oskar lying contentedly in her lap and shooting Marcel a disapproving look. _See, at least she cares about me_ , his dog’s eyes were saying to him. Lena on the other hand only stared at him without saying anything and Marcel wasn’t sure which one made him feel more uncomfortable.

“Um, thank you for taking care of Oskar.” Marcel finally mumbled, breaking the awkward silence.

“Sure thing, I wanted to check if you were alright anyways, since you didn’t really report anything after you arrived at Mats’ house.” She shrugged, her voice having that special knowing undertone. Marcel wanted to ignore it, but it was impossible. He could never cope with anyone making suggestions about his love life. First of all, because he nearly hadn’t had a love life so far, and secondly because he had trouble opening up in front of his own parents, how could he do it to anyone else?

“Yeah, there was nothing to report.” He tried to stay calm, but he blushed uncontrollably. “The reporters stayed away after I arrived and I think that they won’t trouble Mats anymore. He and Emma can sleep undisturbed tonight.”

“I can imagine that you made sure about that.” She mocked him and new light twinkled in his eyes. “So, how was it?” She drawled.

“How was what?” Marcel shook his head, trying to pretend that he didn’t understand. In fact, he did, he only didn’t want to arrive at the topic Lena wanted to talk about.

“Sex, Marcel!” She snapped frustrated, running out of patience. She certainly didn’t beat around the bush anymore and Marcel’s face turned even redder if it was possible.

“Lena!” He cried out, reproaching his best friend. “Why would you think that we had sex?”

“Oh, come on!” She gave him another one of her special glances. “Two horny men, crazy in love with each other get the chance to spend time together. Tell me, in which universe doesn’t that end up with sex?” Marcel could only gape at her. How could she be so rude and nosy? Couldn’t she see that Marcel didn’t want to talk about it at all?

“Okay, let me try something else.” She sighed. “You are always pedant and careful about how your uniform looks like. You rearrange your tie every single time you go somewhere or even when you stand up. It simply has to be symmetrical. Now, it is bending slightly towards your left side what tells me that you took it off today. Also, there are some new and hardly explainable wrinkles on your shirt what means that you took it off as well. So, unless you want to convince me that Mats wanted to try on a police uniform at all costs, I think you owe me a detailed retelling of what went on between you two.” She smiled smugly and crossed her arms, now that she had presented all her cards. It was Marcel’s turn to do something and he was out of ideas.

“I hate you.” He said, utilizing his most threatening voice and a cutting glance, both of them too pathetic to have an effect. Lena looked at him with the same curious and unmoved expression. The blonde new that he wasn’t going to get out of this without a story. He gave in and slumped down on his couch. He instinctively looked at Mats’ poster and his signature. “We were together, but I’m not sure if it counts as sex.” He sighed and he wasn’t prepared for Lena’s excited squeal.

“Oh my God! I knew it! Gosh, Marcel, you can’t believe how happy I am for you! Happy and proud! I’m sure it was amazing.”

“It was.” Marcel nodded and he couldn’t hide his satisfied grin. After all, why would he feel ashamed of what they had done? He knew that they couldn’t go public with their relationship, at least not for now, but it didn’t mean that he couldn’t enjoy his newly found happiness in front of his closest friend.

“I can see it.” Lena smiled at him. “And how did he take your own quest of becoming Emma’s dad?” She asked the question Marcel didn’t want to hear, because he had to gulp suddenly as he remembered the one thing he had wanted to tell Mats, no matter what.

“Um, I kind of forgot about it?” He admitted sheepishly, awaiting the telling off from Lena.

“Are you insane?” She snapped. “You two have been in the same house the entire day and you never said anything to him?”

“Um, we never really got to talking.” Marcel explained.

“Jesus, what you were doing the whole afternoon?” Lena cried out, but then she changed her opinion rapidly. “Wait, I don’t really want to know.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Marcel rolled his eyes.

“But seriously, when are you planning to talk to him, Marcel?” She asked. “What’s your great plan, because I would like to hear it.” Oskar raised his head and looked at Marcel as well, awaiting an answer. He must have sensed the discomfort of his owner, because he slowly stood up and wandered over to Marcel’s lap, placing his head on the policeman’s thigh. The blonde petted him before he started to speak.

“I don’t know.” He said. “I wanted to talk to him, but it didn’t work out. He was troubled, because he has to give Emma to a child care woman tomorrow and I didn’t think that he would appreciate talking about not adopting Emma, at least not officially. Child care will check his home tomorrow, maybe I can talk to him after that.”

“You’re really supportive of him, I must say.” Lena snorted. “You hope that maybe his application won’t be accepted and you can be his savior, coming up with a Plan B. _My_ Plan B, if I’m allowed to say that.”

“It’s not like that!” Marcel shook his head. “It’s just– why would I complicate things if it’s not needed? You know, maybe he would think that I want Emma for myself and not for us. We aren’t really an established couple. We haven’t reached the stage where we can talk about _us_ yet.”

“As you wish.” Lena shrugged and it was worse than any telling off or mocking. Marcel needed support or at least an advice, not this silence. But Lena didn’t seem to worry about it. She stood up and reached for her bag.

“Are you leaving?” Marcel frowned.

“Well, you don’t do what I advise you to do, so what’s the point in telling anything to you?” She said. “Just consider one thing, Marcel. You have a unique chance to make your life a lot better. You have a happy family an arm’s reach away and as I see it, right now you are on your way to throwing it away. I can’t think of a reason why Mats would think that you want Emma for yourself. You love each other, Marcel, and love sometimes makes things easier. Talk to him before it’s too late.”

With that, she said goodbye and left. Marcel simply looked after her. Once again, she was right. They didn’t have much time and they didn’t need to overcomplicate things. He should trust Mats and their love right from the start, and he sensed that the defender would understand why he had applied to become an adoptive parent as well.

“Tomorrow.” He promised himself, not even suspecting what a busy day they would have.


	22. Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a longer break, I'm back with an update. The next chapters will be quite interesting and I think that it will be easy to write them, just like it has been to write this chapter. Please, let me know what you think of it and if you liked it. :-)

As Marcel watched the old lady enter the police station’s room to get Emma, Marcel didn’t think that giving her Emma was the wisest idea. She was a lovely woman and she could take care of children, Marcel had no doubts about it. Emma was a special baby though, and she deserved special attention, something that she wouldn’t get from a fostering parent to whom she was just another baby left behind by her parents. They were standing in one of the station’s interrogation rooms and as Marcel glanced at Mats holding Emma, he could see in the footballer’s eyes that they thought the same about the lady who would become Emma’s official foster parent for the time being.

“There she is!” The old lady smiled, although to Marcel it looked more like a labored grin and wasn’t very convincing. She started off towards Mats and Marcel could see that the defender wrapped his arms around Emma just a bit tighter. The baby sensed that something big was about to happen immediately and she started to toss in Mats’ arms.

_Just don’t make a scene, Mats_ , Marcel thought. He knew very well how much his boyfriend loved Emma and he must have had a hard time letting go of her, but at the same time, he had to realize that any hesitation or not cooperating could have horrible consequences on his plans of adopting Emma. Mats had to be strong for a moment and do what was expected of him. Sometimes you have to sacrifice something for some time to earn something much more later, and Marcel was sure that this was that situation.

“You’re a beauty!” The lady caressed Emma’s little face, but the baby didn’t like it at all. She tried to dodge the touch, but it only made the woman try harder. “What’s your name, darling?”

“Emma.” Mats said in a way as if not knowing Emma’s name was the biggest sin in the world and the lady didn’t even deserve to take care of her because of that. Marcel closed his eyes. He was tensed and afraid that Mats would really do something stupid and try to keep Emma.

“A wonderful name.” She nodded. “May I?” She asked, reaching for Emma.

Marcel saw Mat hesitating, but in the end, the dark-haired man gave in with a sigh and handed Emma to the lady. The next second, a baby’s hurt and painful wailing shook the room as Emma decided to show what her vocal cords were capable of. The child care employee with them, who had already made Mats fill out the paperwork, covered her ears and looked at the lady desperately to do something about the harsh voice. She started to rock Emma, but Marcel knew that it wouldn’t work. He remembered very well the scene when Marco had been complaining about Emma’s crying and only he and Mats could calm her down. Together.

Marcel had had a lot of time to think the evening before, and he had realized how much Emma had brought Mats and him closer. As if the baby thought it her duty to make them a couple and while Marcel and Mats fell in love with each other, they also fell in love with her. Emma was their little guardian angel, aiding them and showing them the path towards a happy life. And now, when someone was about to take her away from them, Marcel felt hollow all of a sudden. He couldn’t even imagine how hard it was for Mats.

“It’s okay, Emma.” Mats finally decided to step in. He ran his fingers over Emma’s forehead and he stroked her head. “Everything’s fine. You are in good hands.” He whispered, fighting with his tears as he tried to convince not only Emma, but himself, too. The crying stopped.

“I will take good care of her, you don’t have to worry.” The lady reassured Mats. She must have noticed how much Ema meant to a man whom she must have considered only a stupid footballer not caring about anything apart from money and fame.

Mats hummed and nodded and quickly turned around towards Marcel and the blonde could see a few teardrops welling up in his eyes. He longed to embrace the taller man, to provide him a shoulder to cry on, but he couldn’t do that and it made him angry at the whole world. Why couldn’t he just be with his love? He didn’t want to get him into trouble and he knew that if Mats’ homosexuality surfaced, it would most probably ruin his career, but he couldn’t do anything about the bitter taste in his mouth. His throat clenched and was threatening to choke him as he only looked at his boyfriend powerlessly. Mats needed him, and he wasn’t able to help him.

He tried to share his thoughts and feelings with Mats through his eyes, unable to utter them in words. He put all his love into his look as he tried to fill Mats with new power thanks to his affection to the dark-haired man. Marcel didn’t quite believe that it would work, but the next moment, Mats managed a faint smile and nodded, as if telling Marcel that it was alright.

“Do you need a lift home, Ms. Scholz?” The child care woman asked.

“That’s very nice of you.” The lady smiled and started off immediately, leaving with Emma in her arms. Marcel could see the signs of the inner battle Mats fought as he held himself back from going after them and taking Emma back.

“I’ll leave, too.” Mats finally calmed down after a few seconds and Marcel could only watch him with the same sad eyes that saw Emma being taken away. He cursed inwardly because he thought himself a coward. Surely, there had to be something he could have done to console Mats. What kind of boyfriend was he if he treated his love like a total stranger in front of others?

“Isn’t this Mr. Hummels’ wallet?” Lena suddenly asked. Marcel spun around towards his colleague and their boss. Of course, Lars had to be there and he had had to chat with Mats about what a wonderful job _his_ station had done to keep the reporters away from Mats’ house. And of course, he hadn’t thought it that important to mention Marcel, too.

“I don’t think so.” Marcel quickly shook his head. In fact, he was pretty sure that it was Lena’s wallet she was waving in her hand. Her eyes looked as if she was trying to hint something at Marcel, but he couldn’t understand it. Why would she pretend that her wallet wasn’t hers? Marcel was just about to ask that, but Lena spoke up first.

“Maybe you could go after him and ask him?” She suggested, already putting the wallet in Marcel’s hand. The penny finally dropped and Marcel couldn’t hide his satisfied grin. Lena had just given him a way to talk to his boyfriend privately and be the support Mats needed. And that without raising suspicion. For the first time in his life, Marcel was grateful that Lars hadn’t become his boss because he was the bigger brain. Seeing Lars’ stupid and clueless face almost made Marcel laugh. He stormed out of the room, through the office and the lobby right into the parking lot.

“Mats, wait!” He shouted. The footballer was about to sit in his car. He turned around and looked questioningly at Marcel. The blonde walked to him quickly. “How are you doing?” He asked, because there was nothing else that came to his mind.

“Horrible.” Mats said with dropped shoulders.

“Hey, it’s not a final goodbye, you know that, right?” Marcel tried to cheer him up, although he was pretty sure that this wasn’t the best way to do it.

“Yes, it’s just– I miss her already.” Mats sighed.

“I do, too.” Marcel said. “But, there’s not much we can do right now. You must go home and impress child care and prove them what a fantastic father you will be. For Emma.”

“You are right.” Mats finally smiled and found new strength to deal with the situation. “When will you finish work?” He jerked his head towards the station.

“At four.” Marcel answered.

“Do you want to come over?” Mats asked and Marcel thought that he wasn’t hearing well. Was Mats making suggestions that they could–

“Yes.” He blurted out before he could overthink everything. “Or maybe you could come to my place.” He remembered how Oskar looked at him the day before.

“Why not?” Mats nodded and quickly looked around. Seeing that no one was around, he leaned forward and gave Marcel a chaste kiss that made the blonde blush nonetheless. “See you after four, then.” He said and climbed into his car. Marcel closed the door for him and waved as his love pulled out from the parking spot.

They didn’t know that they would meet a lot earlier.


	23. Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a bit longer than planned to update, but here I am with the new chapter and I'm afraid with another cliffhanger. Please, let me know what you think of it. :-)

Mats’ house had never felt this empty. He sat in his living room with his head hanging low as he thought about how much had changed during the last day only. Yesterday afternoon, there was a whole family between these walls that for the first time felt like a home. Emma was sleeping peacefully in this very room and Marcel and he had been busy with loving each other. It had been perfect and everything Mats had ever dreamed about. And just a few hours later, he was sitting alone. He had never gotten the smallest glimpse of a happy and full life and it was fate’s very crude play with him to take everything away from him when he had it a step away.

A knock on his door brought him out of his musing. He sighed as he hauled himself off the comfortable leather armchair. He knew that it was a child care employee who came to talk to him and assess his house. He should have been excited about the opportunity and he was supposed to do his best to awe the woman standing in front of his door, but he couldn’t find the motivation to do so. After Emma had been taken away from him, everything seemed pointless.

“Come on in!” He said in an impassive voice and he stepped out of the woman’s way. She entered the house with attentive eyes, but Mats couldn’t miss the excitement there, too. She was very aware of who she was visiting. _Great, another stupid fan_ , Mats groused to himself.

“Good morning, Mr. Hummels!” She smiled at him. “Or can I call you Mats? I think it would be the best if we left the formalities behind as much as possible.”

Mats shrugged and led her into the living room. He had prepared coffee and he had put it on the table already and the brew’s delicious smell filled the air. Mats returned to his armchair and pointed at the couch. “Please, sit down!”

“Thank you very much.” She smiled. “My name is Agathe.”

“Nice to meet you.” Mats tried to remain as polite as possible, although he could hardly make himself care about how this talk would end. He knew how much was at stake, but it still didn’t make a difference.

“So could you please tell me why you decided to apply to become an adoptive parent?” She asked straightforwardly and then she got unsure for a moment. “I hope you don’t mind me getting to the point immediately?”

“Not at all.” Mats shook his head. “Well, I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but more consciously only for the past few days. I’m sure that you know that I took care of a little baby I found in the street and it raised some fatherly feels in me. I want to have a family and children but I realized that it might be harder than I had thought. It’s not that easy to find the right one, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh, please, I’m sure that you don’t have problems with finding admirers.” She complimented him, but there was a strange twinkle in her eyes. Mats wasn’t sure if she was paying so much attention because she wanted to know what chances she would have or if she simply wanted to know how often there would be visitors for the night in the Hummels home.

“I’m looking for a more meaningful relationship.” Mats retorted with great commitment in his voice.

“I see.” She nodded. “I suppose you would like to adopt the baby then, first of all.”

“Yes.” Mats agreed.

“Could you please tell me why do you think that you could take care of a baby like her?”

“Um,” Mats started and he immediately sensed that it was the wrong way to start his explanation, “it might sound strange or stupid, but I think we got along very well with Emma. I wouldn’t have thought that I could understand a baby, but with her, everything felt so natural. I didn’t even have to think about what to do.”

“I think I understand.” She kept smiling at Mats. “So you gave her a name? Emma?”

“I had to call her somehow.” Mats said. “If her parents couldn’t care about her, I think she deserves the attention from someone else.”

“That’s nice. Don’t you have any doubts about your ability to give the kind of attention she deserves? You are a top footballer and you must be very busy, traveling a lot. Who will take care of little Emma if you’re given custody of her? Have you thought about it?” She turned the tables on Mats.

“I’m sure that I could manage somehow. I have a lot of friends who could look after her when I’m away. And during trainings, I can call a babysitter.”

“It might be a lot easier if you had a partner. Aren’t you in a relationship, Mats?” She touched a more personal topic.

“I am.” Mats simply said and he could see that he had surprised her. She looked stunned and quickly reached into her bag. She got out a paper and checked the information she had been given.

“Um, why haven’t you mentioned that in your application?”

“Because back then, I wasn’t in a relationship.” Mats answered.

“Oh, so it’s nothing serious, yet.” She said almost relieved.

“On the other hand, it’s quite serious.” Mats stood up for his love towards Marcel. The blonde was all that he had for sure and he had promised himself that he would always stand by their love.

“Maybe we should meet her, too.” She suggested. “It’s good to know something about the partner of our app–” She started to explain, but Mats cut her short with a single word that he knew could change his life, but he had no problem uttering it. It was the truth and Mats had always found sticking to the truth the easiest way.

“Him.” He said and it hung heavily in the air. She looked at him with a shocked expression, her eyes wide from her surprise. She tried to compose herself as quickly as possible, but her voice was still weak when she spoke up again.

“That’s– understandable.” She stammered. “I mean, that you want to keep it confidential. I can assure you that we won’t contact any reporters or newspapers.”

“I don’t want it to stay a secret. I don’t care about it. I want to live my life and if someone doesn’t like what he sees, he isn’t forced to watch.” Mats shrugged. He was surprised how calmly he spoke, since he had never thought about these things concretely. And still, he was speaking with confidence that convinced even the child care woman. For a moment, Mats thought that if he could show the same confidence to the whole world, he could silence all the haters, too.

“How does _he_ feel about your plans of adoption?” She inquired.

“He supports me and helps a lot.” Mats said smiling, remembering everything that Marcel had done for him selflessly. How bad he had treated the officer at first, and still, Marcel never gave up and hadn’t turned his back on Mats, something the defender appreciated a lot. “I would have been lost without him a few times.”

“So if you were abroad, your um– boyfriend would have no problem looking after Emma?”

“Not at all.”

Just when he said that, his phone started to ring. He looked apologetically at the woman sitting in front of him as he fished out his mobile from his pocket. He wanted to hang up immediately, but when he saw who was calling him, he answered the call instead.

“Marcel, what’s going on?” He asked. The blonde knew that Mats was meeting child care, he wouldn’t have disturbed him for no good reason.

“Mats, could you come to the station?” Marcel asked, worry and panic in his voice. Mats’ heart missed a beat as he stood up and started to pace up and down. He couldn’t stay in one place when something bad was going on and he felt that this was the case.

“What’s wrong?” Mats asked.

“I’d rather not tell you over–” Marcel tried shyly.

“Tell me!” Mats shouted.

“It’s about Emma.” Marcel said. “She’s fine, but–”

“I’m on my way!” Mats didn’t let his boyfriend finish his sentence. He hung up the phone, and tucked it back into his pocket. “I’m sorry, I have to go now.” He turned to the child care woman who was left stunned once again.

“But the interview…” She stammered, but Mats couldn’t care about it.

“Look, it’s about Emma!” Mats explained. “You can come with me and we can talk after that, but right now I must take care of her.” He said and stormed out of the room, never looking back to check if the woman was following her or not.


	24. Two Perfect Fathers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't make any promises about when I am going to post the next chapter, because it seems that I can't keep them. I only hope that you will enjoy this update and please, feel free to share your thoughts with me. :-)

Mats literally burst into the room, the door hinges crying out in pain as he tore the door open. Ms. Scholz had returned with Emma not two hours after she had taken her away and Marcel hadn’t had to guess why she had decided to give up taking care of the baby. Emma’s loud and shrill crying was still breaking the station’s otherwise usual silence despite Marcel’s all efforts. He had thought that he could calm down the baby, but he suspected that it would take both Mats and him again. So he had called the footballer and had shared his suspicion with Lena. He couldn’t just hand Emma to Mats and then embrace both of them in front of everyone. He needed and accomplice, and Lena was the perfect choice for that, as she had already proved it countless times.

Marcel’s plan depended on Mats, though. The footballer didn’t look like he would listen to reason. He was angry and wanted to make sure that Emma was safe and sound. He stopped the moment he entered the room and his eyes scanned over Marcel, Ms. Scholz and finally Lena. Luckily, Lars had left, because he had gotten enough of the baby’s wailing. Another strange face appeared behind Mats. The woman was out of breath and Marcel gathered that she was the child care employee the footballer had to talk to.

“What did you do to her?” Mats charged at Ms. Scholz and the old lady took a step backwards.

“Nothing.” She stammered. “The moment we left the station, she started crying and I couldn’t make her stop. She made everyone at home uneasy. I can’t take care of her, so I brought her back. There’s something wrong with her and I wouldn’t be surprised if she turned out to be somehow impaired.” She noted, apparently unable to admit that her capabilities had been proved not enough.

“Yes, and you’ll decide that!” Mats snorted. He started off towards Marcel and the baby and the blonde winked at Lena.

“Ms. Scholz, why don’t you tell me again what happened? I’m sure that child care would be interested, too.” She hinted at the newcomer who nodded in agreement. “Guys, try to do something about Emma.” Lena said and she led the two other women out of the room.

“Give her to me.” Mats said and Marcel didn’t hesitate to obey his command. He was careful with handing Emma to the footballer and he hoped that Mats wasn’t too fiery to consider how fragile her body still was. He didn’t have to worry though. The moment Mats felt his child, – Marcel couldn’t think about Emma in any other way anymore – the defender changed completely. His features softened and he smiled.

“Hush, Emma, we are here. Everything is fine.” He mumbled and started to rock Emma. It was to no avail. She kept crying and for the first time, Marcel thought that maybe she was sick. “Don’t just stand there! Come here!” Mats snapped and Marcel had no other options than to obey.

He stepped to Mats and Emma and he gently lay his hand over the baby’s forehead, hugging Mats with his other hand. And right then, Emma stopped crying, a cheerful shout from the offices announcing how grateful Marcel’s colleagues were for the silence. But neither the blonde, nor Mats cared about it. They stood in the middle of the room, staring at the angel who had brought them together and had shown again that she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She wanted them to be together and she wanted to be their child.

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Marcel whispered, his thumb brushing Emma’s soft blonde strands.

“She is.” Mats agreed, grinning. “She’s our beauty. Do you think she did this on purpose? Maybe she wanted to get us together again.” He suggested and Marcel let out a lighthearted laugh.

“I’m sure about it.” He smiled. “There’s more to this young lady than meets the eye and Ms. Scholz will never understand it. She has to stay at you, Mats.”

“Not by me.” Mats shook his head. “By _us_.” He said and Marcel felt as if he was flying.

“How did the interview go?” The blonde finally asked when he calmed down enough to be able to form coherent thoughts again.

“Don’t even ask. You called me in the middle of it and even before that, I hadn’t quite impressed her. I think I blew up my chance, Marcel.” Mats admitted with regret in his voice. This was the right time, Marcel realized.

“Um, Mats?” He started and he got the footballer’s attention. “I have to tell you something. To be honest, I should have already told you about it. The day you applied to become an adoptive parent, I did the same, too.”

“I don’t understand.” Mats looked at him with an ignorant face. God, he wasn’t making it any easier for Marcel.

“It was Lena’s idea. I was already in love with you back then, and she said that you didn’t have a big chance to get custody of Emma. You are too busy as a footballer and the state wouldn’t take that risk to entrust you with a small kid.” Marcel said. It actually hurt to talk like this about his boyfriend. He had full trust in Mats’ skills and he knew that he could take care of Emma alone, too. “So Lena advised me to apply, too, so if you didn’t get approved, we still had a plan B.” Marcel explained and awaited Mats’ reaction concerned. Their future depended on this moment.

“ _We_ had a plan B? Marcel, _we_ didn’t exist back then.” Mats doubted.

“I know. I’m an optimist.” Marcel said and the footballer laughed. “Aren’t you mad at me?”

“Mad at you?” Mats shook his head. “Why would I be mad at you?”

“I don’t know, maybe you think that I wanted Emma for myself or something…” Marcel drawled but the only answer he got was Mats’ amused smile.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better love confession, Marcel.” Mats said it as it was. Marcel was sure that they would kiss each other, but right then, the door was open and the child care lady walked in on them. Marcel pulled away immediately, but Mats grabbed his hand and the blonde looked at him dumbfounded. What was Mats doing?

“Agathe, this is him. I mean _him him_.” Mats introduced Marcel and the police officer had no idea what was going on.

“I guessed that.” She chuckled. “Your colleague sent me here, she told me that there was something I might like to see.” She turned to Marcel. “I now know what she meant.” She smiled at them knowingly. Marcel didn’t understand any of it and he was starting to have enough of it. “Listen, Mr. Hummels, I talked to my colleagues. We can’t find another home for Emma right now, Ms. Scholz was our only hope and she’s quite adamant not to take the baby with her again. Would it be a huge problem for you if you had to take care of her for a few more days?” She asked and Marcel could literally hear a great weight off his heart fall down.

“No, not at all.” Mats grinned, unable to hide his happiness and even Marcel allowed himself a wide grin, seeing his boyfriend who looked as if he was ready to jump out of his skin.

“Good.” She nodded and turn around. “I’m going to leave now, then. Have a nice day!”

“Wait! What about the interview?” Mats stopped her.

“What interview?” She turned back to them. They must have been a pleasing sight with Emma in their arms, because she smiled immediately when she saw them.

“The interview we started?” Mats asked. “I haven’t answered all your questions.”

“Oh, believe me, I already know what I have to know.” She said mysteriously and exited the room, leaving behind two perplexed young men and a very pleased baby.


	25. Conspiring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to post an update sooner, because you deserve it so much for your wonderful feedback. There will be some tender moments after all the excitement, I hope you will like it. :-)

“Daddy’s proud of you, I hope you know that.” Mats said to Emma. He was holding the girl in his hands, half-lying in one of Marcel’s armchairs. The blonde watched the peaceful scene in front of him with a warm heart and he gently petted Oscar’s head. Mats had been waiting for him already when he arrived from work. Emma was lying in his arms and the footballer looked full of energy again now that he had gotten his sweetheart back. But, he still hadn’t been energized enough to bring the three bags of various supplies he had brought with himself so he could take care of Emma’s every need while staying at Marcel and so the police officer had to do this not so pleasant task.

“Aham.” Marcel cleared his throat and Mats shot him a questioning glance.

“Okay, daddies are proud of you.” Mats corrected himself and Marcel laughed.

He couldn’t believe his luck. Everything worked out so well despite the initial struggles and hardships. Emma was back with them after a few hours. Marcel shouldn’t have doubted the little angel’s skills, but he was still grateful that she managed to get her way again. They had been sitting in his living room next to each other, the TV’s distant buzz being the only sound in the room for a long time. They didn’t need any noise. They enjoyed the silence and the intimate moment they shared.

“Greta called.” Mats said suddenly. “According to the report, I’m good material for an adoptive parent and I can apply to become Emma’s guardian. If I do, they will decide in a few days’ time.”

“That’s wonderful news.” Marcel said, but Mats saw through his mask.

“She called you, too, right?” Mats frowned.

“Yes.” Marcel sighed. “She told me that since you had done so well, she would stop my application process for the time being. We can’t adopt Emma as a couple and I don’t really think that we need another kid.”

“Who knows, maybe she would appreciate a sibling.” Mats suggested and laughed as he noticed Marcel’s horrified face. “Relax, I’m kidding.” He became serious. “Are you sure it’s not a problem? You wanted to be her dad, too.”

“As long as I’m with you two, I couldn’t care less about what’s written on the official papers.” Marcel shrugged and he was being honest. He had already gotten what he had asked for: a loving and perfect boyfriend and a wonderful child.

“While we are at you being Emma’s father…” Mats drawled, handing him the baby and a moment later, Marcel smelled what he had meant.

“You can’t be serious!” Marcel snapped, shaking his head in disbelief.

“What? I can’t always do the dirty job.” Mats shot him an apologetic smile.

“Let’s go Emma, your other daddy is too lazy to take care of you.” Marcel stood up and turned back towards his dog. “Bite him!” He pointed his finger at Mats, but the little traitor only walked over to the footballer and lay down in his lap, presenting him his belly, panting.

They had furnished a room Marcel barely used for Emma’s needs and he walked with the baby there. There was a tall table in the room and he used it temporarily as a changing table. He had put a soft towel on the hard wooden surface and he placed the little baby down on it very carefully.

“Let’s look what he have here.” He said gently and he started to take off Emma’s clothes. “I must praise you, little girl. You had it planned out perfectly. I have no doubts that you did everything on purpose. You wanted to back with Mats, didn’t you?” He asked while he opened Emma’s diaper and wiped her clean. The baby growled.

“What’s that? You wanted to be with me, too?” Marcel asked smiling, and this time, Emma returned his smile. “Thank you very much, I missed you, too. You’ve done more for me or Mats than anyone else has ever done and that without knowing it. Or maybe, you are very aware of the effect you have on our lives. Who am I to tell?” A soft chuckle was the answer he got.

“Hey, listen, I know I might be asking too much, but could you please help me out with Mats? We haven’t been together long, and you might think that everything is set, but grown-ups can get complicated sometimes. You know what I mean, right? So if Mats ever gets unsure about us, maybe you could refresh his mind? Just now and then.” A happy squeal reassured him that Emma and he were on the same page.

“Thank you.” Marcel grinned and placed a peck on her little cheeks. She reached for his beard immediately and pulled it carelessly. “Hey! I thought we were friends!” He snapped playfully, rubbing his chin. Emma laughed again and Marcel laughed with her. He had changed her diaper with skilled and confident movements. Mats must have gotten more practiced, but Marcel was finished faster than the footballer would have been. And still, when he returned to the living room, he found it empty.

“Mats?” Marcel called out and he heard the defender’s answer coming from his bedroom. He didn’t like it at all. If Mats had found his two jerseys…

But, the footballer had been busy doing other things. He had closed the blinds, putting the room in a dim light and he had also gotten rid of his clothes except for his boxers. He looked at the blonde with the same tantalizing glance he had used on him already and Marcel’s mouth watered at the wonderful sight in front of him.

“Won’t you join me?” Mats teased him and Marcel couldn’t have moved even if he wanted to because, there was a hard spear right between his legs that made it impossible to make a step.

“Um, Emma.” Marcel lifted the baby in his hands.

“Right.” The dark-haired man nodded. “I brought a play yard. If you set it up in her room, I think she’ll do fine for a few minutes. I don’t need more than that.” Mats said calmly, as if he had already planned all of this. Maybe he had. He had had all the afternoon for coming up with a way to spend more time with Marcel.

“Okay.” Marcel nodded and turned around immediately, trying to hide his bulge from the footballer, although it was pretty pointless. He was sure that Mats would find out what’s in his underpants very shortly.

“Don’t be too long.” Mats sent him off.

Marcel didn’t need to be reminded. He strode through the hall, with Oscar in tow. He placed Emma on the table again as he started to look for the play yard Mats had mentioned. He found it under a heap of toys. He had no idea where and why Mats had gotten so many little balls, plastic toys and teddy bears. He quickly installed the play yard, his manhood always reminding him that he’d better hurry. Once he was done, he put a warm blanket on the floor in the middle of the play yard and placed Emma in it.

He picked up every toy one by one, watching the baby’s reaction and when he saw that she was excited about it, he put the toy in the play yard. He was feeling awful about leaving Emma alone just because they couldn’t wait a few hours until she’d be asleep.

“Um, is this okay? Don’t you mind your daddies spending some time together?” He asked sheepishly. He wasn’t sure if he was expecting an answer or if he simply wanted to ease his mind, but seeing Emma already playing with one of her toys, he decided that they got her approval.

“Okay.” He stood up. “Oscar, look out for her. If anything happens, bark!” He gave his instructions and his dog listened to him, paying attention and he sat down next to the play yard immediately. Marcel looked around once again, checking if there was anything that could harm Emma and then, he nodded satisfied.

_Here we go_ , he thought as he started off towards his bedroom.


	26. Being One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I have to add anything to this chapter. Please, enjoy it, and let me know what you think of it. :-)

Marcel was as beautiful as ever and Mats wanted to crawl under his skin just to be with him all the time as he stopped in the doorway of his bedroom, leaning against the doorframe. His strong and yet so slim body was very well accentuated by his close-fitting clothes, but it wasn’t what caught the defender’s attention. He was lost in the adorable face, the gray depths Marcel’s eyes were and his slight blush, making the blonde look so innocent. The police officer was perfect with his imperfectness and he didn’t even notice it. Only Mats knew what the presence of this wonderful human being made him feel and he considered himself the most fortunate man alive for finding Marcel single.

“Come here, sweetheart.” He whispered, surprised to hear his own voice. It was so natural to call Marcel by the pet name he had chosen for him, because it described the police officer so perfectly. He was sweet, sweeter than any fruit Mats had ever eaten or any victory he had tasted on a football pitch.

Marcel walked over to his bed, getting rid of his T-shirt on his way there. His pale skin was glowing in the dimly lit room. He sat down carefully next to Mats, his eyes glued to the footballer’s eyes. Mats ran his hand up Marcel’s torso, feeling the strong muscles under the blazing skin. The soft hair on Marcel’s chest tickled his palm and he took his time inspecting the police officer’s heart beats.

Marcel finally leaned back, lying down next to Mats. They were lying face to face, smiling at each other, caressing the other one’s cheek. Mats was sure that some would think that they were insane and stupid for just watching the other one, but it felt so good and they waited for a long time until they continued.

They moved in unison, reaching forward for the other one’s lips and they collided into a passionate kiss. They writhed closer and closer to each other and when their groins touched, Mats could feel a drop of pre-cum dampening the thin layer of his boxer shorts covering his most private parts. The blonde must have sensed it, too. He turned the taller man on his back and climbed on top of him, covering his body with his own, a few strands of his hair falling into his and Mats’ face. Their beards scratched the other one’s face and their labored breaths tickled their cheeks, but neither of them would have traded this experience for anything else in this world. They were finally together and they had the rest of their lives to enjoy each other to the fullest.

Marcel’s tongue darted out of its cave and it slid down Mats’ neck, headed south. But, before the police officer could have reached his destination, Mats grabbed him by his shoulders and pulled him up again. He didn’t leave space for objection, he pushed Marcel into the mattress, taking initiative. The blonde got the message and he lifted his hips, helping Mats to free his throbbing member. It sprung to life immediately once it sensed the air of the room and Mats stared at it with hungry eyes. Marcel couldn’t call his own an impressive length, but it was the least of Mats’ concerns. He craved for Marcel’s closeness and he was madly in love with him. Nothing else mattered.

He gave Marcel’s shaft a few lazy strokes and then he lowered his head on it, parting his lips to welcome the head of the blonde’s rock hard manhood. Marcel moaned in pleasure and Mats had to hold him pressed into the mattress to stop him from shuddering. For a moment, the footballer thought that his love would come from just his soft touch. He gave Marcel some time to compose himself before he started to bob up and down Marcel’s cock. His tongue swirled around the sensitive head, inspecting it and looking for the spots that would make Marcel go crazy with lust. Whenever he succeeded, a soft, almost inaudible pant left the police officer’s mouth to be swallowed by the room’s silence.

The whole world ceased to exist. Everything that mattered to them was within their reach. Marcel reached for Mats’ back, desperately looking for something he could hold onto and when he didn’t find it, he scratched the sun-kissed skin, leaving behind a scar that Mats would wear proudly.

He felt Marcel’s orgasm building up in his groin and he let go of the blonde. Marcel groaned and Mats had to give him an apologetic peck on the lips. “Not so soon, sweetheart.” He whispered and Marcel nodded. Mats could have sworn that he saw a tear of joy welling up in the blonde’s eyes.

He returned south again, kissing the twitching head of Marcel’s cock. He licked his way down the glittering shaft, he kissed Marcel’s balls and then he lifted the blonde’s slim legs. He drank in the sight of his soft and yet from his arousal so tensed perineum and the pink rosebud that would claim his very soon. His mouth returned to pleasuring his boyfriend and this time, Marcel cried out from the wave of sheer ecstasy when Mats kissed him on that oh so special spot.

He put his hand on Marcel’s thighs to calm him down and he heard the policeman take deep breaths. He knew that he had to be very careful. Marcel was delicate and he didn’t want to break him or hurt him. He licked the puckered entrance and his mind was blown away by the many sensations he felt. He already knew what a pleasant sight Marcel was, his heart missed a beat whenever he heard the blonde’s laughter and his nostrils always wanted to take in more of the sweet scent he emitted. Still, tasting him was something completely different and it set Mats’ world on fire and the wet spot on his boxers got bigger.

He didn’t miss Marcel’s body’s reaction, either. The policeman could relax easily, his hole widening from the tender ministration Mats treated it with. The soft and smooth flesh pulsed with arousal, eager to get more of Mats’ tongue’s touches. When Mats thought the time right, he pulled back, quickly licked over his own finger and pushed it into Marcel’s gaping entrance, meeting no resistance. The blonde reached for Mats and the footballer let him grab his hand. Marcel squeezed it immediately as Mats started to push in and out of him. He curled his digit and pressed against the walls of Marcel’s tight channel, widening it. Soon, a second finger slipped in as easily as the first one and Marcel’s soft pants and unintelligible words filled the room.

“Mats, please!” He croaked out and the footballer pulled back, getting rid of his last garment. His cock was slick from the pre-cum that seeing Marcel’s pleasure had milked from him. He turned towards his jeans and was about to get out a condom from his pocket, when Marcel stopped him. “No. I trust you.” He said and the weight of these couple of words hung in the air for a very long moment.

“Are you sure?” Mats asked and Marcel nodded.

“Please, take me.” He begged.

Mats lined himself up and thrust his hips forward. He was surprised how easily he had buried himself deep into the policeman. Marcel felt so perfect around him. His walls massaged Mats’ cock and based on the high-pitched cries fleeing the blonde’s lips, the experience was equally fulfilling on the other end.

Mats knew that neither of them would last long, but it wasn’t the point. There would be time for them to enjoy their lovemaking for long hours maybe, but right now, they needed to get lost in the love and arousal they felt for each other. He pushed in and out very slowly, making his thrusts deep and tender. Their bodies were burning with pleasure and drops of sweat rolled down their skin as they got closer and closer to the height of their orgasms.

They reached it at the same time. When Mats pushed deeper than ever before and hit Marcel’s prostate, the blonde’s body contracted as he shot his load all over his abdomen. His walls milked Mats, too and the footballer collapsed on the shorter one as spasms of passion shook his body over and over again, for what felt like an eternity.

He almost blacked out and it was only Marcel’s voice that brought him back to life and reality.

“Wow!” He whispered and Mats didn’t need to hear more than that.


	27. Mother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was unsure about the story lately and I more or less ran out of inspiration. It took me a long time, but I thought about the next steps in the story and I managed to write a new chapter, but I'm not sure if it is any good. All feedback is very much appreciated. :-)

It took Mats some time to convince himself to say goodbye to Marcel, but in the end, he left unwillingly. They had spent the rest of the day together, playing with Emma and grinning at each other all the time over the little baby. When Oscar had noticed the obvious attraction between his owner and Mats, he had tried to get between them, led by jealousy, but as soon as he had realized that it was a hopeless undertaking, he had given up and accepted the new roles in their new family.

Mats drove home and after feeding Emma, he put her to bed. It was already late and he was looking forward to going to sleep himself. He took a quick shower and changed into the white T-shirt and loose pants he used as pajamas. He was on his way to the bedroom when he heard a faint knock on his front door. He stopped for a moment and considered if he had heard it right. He wasn’t expecting anyone. Just when he was about to decide that he had been imagining things, he heard the knock again. He walked to the door and looked through the peephole.

He saw a young girl, probably still a teenager. She was jerking his head in all directions, as if she was afraid that someone would spot her. Mats had no idea what was going on, but the quick glimpse he caught of the girl’s face told him that she might have been in trouble and maybe she had knocked on the first door she reached.

“Can I help you?” Mats opened the door. He gave the girl some time, so he wouldn’t scare her.

“Mr. Hummels?” She asked. Mats was used to this question, but he heard it very rarely with this intonation. She wasn’t surprised that a world-known footballer opened the door; she was only unsure if Mats was the man she was looking for.

“Who’s asking?” Mats asked now warily. He wasn’t the one to open doors to anyone, especially not since Emma was staying with him.

“Please, can I come in? I can’t stay for long.” She whispered mysteriously and once again, Mats saw that strange expression and it convinced him that he should make an exception. This girl was indeed in trouble and maybe he could help her somehow. He stepped aside and let her in.

She walked past him before Mats could notice and she stopped right behind him. The defender closed the door and looked at her questioningly. She had a lot to explain and Mats was looking forward to the answers. He had no idea that right the first one would cut into his heart.

“My name is Elsa. I am the mother of the baby you found.” She said, almost impassively, as if she was sharing a small detail.

Mats stood there frozen in place, unable to react in any way. He felt betrayed, although he wasn’t sure who or what had betrayed him. Maybe life itself, by constantly giving him the chance to acquire something he craved for and then taking it away from him before he could start enjoying having it.

“What?” Mats gaped at her when he found his tongue again. He was about to start telling her off for abandoning her child, leaving poor Emma on the street, but she spoke up before he could.

“I’m not here to take her away. Please, I really don’t have much time. I need to tell you some things.” She hastened to say. “Leaving her was the hardest thing I have ever done and I want to tell someone why I had to do so. When I saw in the papers the photos of her and you, I knew that she ended up in a good place. It was a very strong feeling, but I simply had to come here to make sure.”

“Do you think that I am just someone who has to do your job for you?” Mats snorted. “You left Emma there for anyone to pick her up!” He burst out.

“Emma?” Elsa asked, untouched by Mats’ reprimanding. “That’s how you call her? It’s a beautiful name.” She smiled. “Look, Mr. Hummels, I know that what I did was wrong, and you don’t need to tell me off for it. I do it for myself all the time. But, I think that if I tell you my story, you will understand why I did what I did.”

“Why should I listen to you? As far as I know, you could be anyone, pretending to be Emma’s mother.” Mats shrugged.

“Please!” Elsa begged, teardrops running down her face. “I need to speak to someone.” The pain in her voice brought Mats’ walls down and he nodded. “Thank you. I think I should start with telling you about her dad, Florian. He was a wonderful man. We met in a– never mind, I’m not proud of the places I was attending back then.”

“Why? Because you mixed with some gang members?” Mats snapped.

“You know about Florian?” Elsa cried out in surprise. “How much do you know?”

“That he was in the police’s scope, and that’s more than I need to know.” Mats said firmly.

“Oh, no, Florian wasn’t a bad man! He was full of love and he had great talent. He was a fantastic student at school, do you know that? But, he was bullied and didn’t know how to cope with it. He asked his parents for help, but they only told him to grow up. He didn’t know what to do with his life, and that’s why he got involved with– with drugs.” She said, her voice breaking. “But when I met him, he stopped immediately. He never hurt anyone. We understood each other very well, because I come from a troubled family, too. And we gave each other the affection we needed. We wanted to start a life together, but our folks wouldn’t help us. My parents said that Florian was trouble, and I’m sure that his parents said the same about me. What could we have done?” She shouted and Mats had no idea what he was supposed to say to that. Hearing Elsa’s story, he couldn’t blame her or her boyfriend for the decisions they took.

“In the end, Florian found someone who helped us. A very, very bad man. But, he paid Florian good money and we needed it. Then, he expected more and more from him and–” She stopped, gathering her strength. “Florian agreed, but only to support us. He started to sell drugs. He knew that it was bad and he wouldn’t have done if there had been any other way. But, I got pregnant and we needed more money. Florian even started to go to school again, he wanted to finish a technical school and start working as a repairer. But, his boss thought that he was stealing money from him and they– they killed him!” She said, heavy sobs wracking her from head to toe.

“Sh, it’s okay!” Mats whispered and embraced the young girl. “Why haven’t you gone to the police and told them this?”

“Because after Florian’s death, they didn’t stop. They thought that I had the money and came after me. I had to flee and I’ve been moving in the country ever since. It seemed that I could start a new life in Dortmund, but a few weeks ago, they found me. I feared that maybe they would use Emma against me. I had a nightmare that they would take her and hurt her if I didn’t give them the money. And I can’t! Florian made mistakes and he did bad things, but he wasn’t a thief. So I decided that I had to let go of my baby for her safety. It was very hard, but in the end, it worked out well and I’m so grateful that you have found her.”

For a long moment, they stood in the hall, Elsa looking for comfort in Mats’ embrace, leaning against his strong body. “But, I’m leaving Germany. I can’t live here anymore, otherwise they would kill me, too. I just had to tell our story to you. Will you adopt her?” She asked suddenly.

“Yes, right now it seems so.” Mats nodded. “You really want to leave forever? It’s never too late. If you talked to the police…”

“No, it’s not possible.” She shook her head. “They have connections everywhere. If I went to the police, they would find us and hurt us. I want the best for my baby. It took me a long time, but then I realized that _I_ wasn’t the best for her.” She cried, but the next second, as a car drove by in the street, she came back to her senses. “It’s late, I have to go now!”

“Wait!” Mats tried to stop her. “Elsa, trust me, the police can help you!”

“I appreciate it, Mr. Hummels, but I can’t. I’m not brave enough. And when I look at you, I see how much you care about her. You remind me of my Florian and I know that you will be the perfect father for my sweetheart. The father she deserves.”

“So I can’t do anything for you?” Mats asked in his final despair.

“No,” She shook her head again, heading for the door. “But maybe–” She stopped and turned around. “Maybe I could see her for one last time? Say goodbye?”

“Of course.” Mats agreed, already leading the way to the bedroom. They stopped next to Emma’s crib, staring at the small baby sleeping peacefully.

“I called her Flora. After her father.” Elsa suddenly said. “She looks a lot like him.” She mused out loud and leaned forward to give Emma a peck. Mats was close to crying, a huge lump in his throat and when Elsa whispered into Emma’s ear, he couldn’t hold his tears back any longer. “Be a good girl, Emma Flora. Be a better person than your mom has ever been.”


	28. A Late Realization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is more or less a filler chapter, building towards the big finish. I hope you will like it and that you will find the time to share your opinion with me. Your feedback is always appreciated. :-)

After Elsa left, Mats called Marcel immediately and told him what had happened. Meeting with Emma’s mother had shaken him in a way he wouldn’t have expected. He had feared that it would come to such a meeting sooner rather than later, after all, a human being couldn’t have vanished from earth without a sign. He had also feared that meeting with Emma’s mom would mean him losing Emma and now, he was left with a completely opposite result. Elsa’s and Florian’s story moved him and he cried with the girl as she said goodbye to her baby.

Marcel acted immediately. He did everything that was in his power but unfortunately, it wasn’t much. Officially, he still wasn’t a part of the investigation team, although Emma’s case now had a lower priority because of new burglaries in their district. He talked to Lena about it though and his best friend and colleague helped him as much as she could, but she couldn’t have announced Emma’s mother’s name without raising suspicion. They still didn’t know her identity, at least not officially, and revealing it could have done a lot of harm to her. She was in danger and in such cases, the police had to act with the utmost care, something that wasn’t typical of their boss Lars. He would have chased Elsa down at all costs and would have judged her for leaving her child behind.

Marcel didn’t want that. He loved his job and he believed in it. He thought that theirs was a very noble profession and he wouldn’t have traded it for anything. But, there were simply situations when the police wasn’t in the position to judge and decide about the faith of other people and Marcel understood it. He didn’t want to judge Elsa, because he wasn’t sure what he would have done under the same circumstances and he had doubts whether her decision was such horrible, considering everything that led her to make it.

“There’s still no sign about Elsa?” He asked from Lena on a sunny afternoon. She came to visit him after work. Marcel had taken the day off and had spent it with Mats and Emma. Strangely, meeting Elsa changed Mats for the better. He understood the responsibility of raising a child more clearly now. It wasn’t only about him and his inner driving force to be a father anymore; he now saw what everything he had to give Emma.

“Nothing.” Lena shook her head, stirring her tea. “It’s as if the ground itself had swallowed her. I’ve looked everywhere where I could get, but there’s no sign of her. She didn’t buy a plane ticket and she couldn’t have left the country with an international train, either. She just disappeared.”

“I hope she is alright and nothing bad happened to her.” Marcel mused out loud. He was stroking Oscar’s head. The dog was lying contentedly in his lap, dozing off under its owner’s tender touch.

“It doesn’t have to mean anything.” Lena reassured him. “Most probably, she left by car and maybe she uses a new identity. She sounded like someone who knows where to get one.” Lena suggested and Marcel hummed in agreement. “I can’t believe how her story turned out. I mean, we aren’t doing a great job as policemen if someone in need doesn’t trust us?”

“I don’t think that it is because of police officers like you.” Marcel said, and Lena smiled.

“That’s nice of you.” She thanked Marcel. “What about a game of cards?”

“If you insist on humiliating and beating me every time you are at my house.” Marcel sighed, feigning a sour feeling. Lena didn’t buy into it, her warm laughter filled the room as she stood up and walked over to the cupboard to get the pack of cards. They played a lot together, even though it was always Lena who won. She was much better at focusing and tactics and she took the game seriously, while Marcel mostly played to enjoy himself.

“You could do so much better if you also thought, instead of playing the first card that you noticed.” Lena noted mockingly. She opened one of the drawers and reached into it. “Oh, I didn’t know that you had a PSP.” She got out the said console from the drawer.

“Oh, that’s Mats’.” Marcel explained.

“I see.” Lena said with that knowing smile spreading out on her face. “Well, the next time he’s here, don’t forget to give it back to him.” She winked at Marcel.

“He didn’t particularly forget it here.” Marcel shrugged. “He can’t spend a lot of time without his electronical stuff, so he keeps some here, just to be sure.”

“Sorry, I had no idea that you were slowly but surely moving together.” Lena snickered.

“We are _not_ moving together!” Marcel snapped so firmly that Oskar jumped out of his lap, startled. “But why should we carry all our things when we visit each other? It’s only normal.”

“I didn’t say that it wasn’t normal.” Lena said empathically and for a moment, Marcel believed her that she didn’t mean to mock him. “It just surprised me. I thought that you weren’t the kind of person who would jump into a serious relationship.” She teased him further.

“Stop that, will you?” Marcel rolled his eyes. Lena was annoying him on purpose and he was starting to feel uncomfortable about it.

“You don’t see my point.” Lena snorted. Marcel couldn’t believe his eyes and ears. Was Lena also upset about his behavior? There was nothing she could have minded in his reaction to her silly accusations. “Look at that bookshelf! I haven’t seen half of those books!” _Well, that’s because they are Mats’_ , Marcel said to himself. “Or I could point out the furniture. The last time I was here, the table wasn’t so close to the couch. Obviously, you moved it because you wanted a taller person to be able to sit there comfortably.” _This is getting ridiculous_ , Marcel thought. “I guess I would find a lot of Mats’ clothes in your bedroom, or maybe the new toothbrush in the bathroom is his, too?” She suggested.

“Oh my god, we are moving together!” Marcel gave in with a dropped jaw, completely struck by the realization. How could he missed the obvious signs? They were moving on in their relationship in a rapid pace and he had no idea what to think about it. On one side, he hadn’t thought about it until now, because it all seemed natural. But now, when Lena had opened his eyes, he was also scared about the implications it told him. Was he ready to make that step?

“Don’t look as if you have just seen a ghost!” Lena laughed. “There’s nothing you should feel ashamed of or bad about. You are grown-up men, you can do whatever you want to and if you get along so much that you don’t even notice the changes Mats had brought into your life, it tells me that you are doing the right thing.” She reassured him and it somewhat eased Marcel’s mind.

“Do you really think so?” Marcel asked, still under the influence of his shock.

“Of course.” Lena smiled and then, Marcel’s phone started to ring. She got to it first and she looked at the display. “I think you must answer this one.” She smiled as she handed the phone to Marcel.

“Hello, Mats?” He picked it up. He was far from his usual self, but the prospect of talking to his love brought his senses back.

“Three days, Marcel!” He heard Mats’ ecstatic voice. “They will decide about my application to officially become Emma’s dad in three days!”


	29. Doubts and Comfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been focusing on this story lately, so please don't expect an update for another story from me in the next few days. But, the good news is that this story is almost completely written, so I will probably post new chapter every two or three days from now on. I hope you will enjoy the big finish of this story and please, never hesitate to share your thoughts with me. :-)

The three days went by without Mats and Marcel really noticing them. There were so many things on their minds, especially on Mats’ that they didn’t have the time to actually notice the passing of time. Marcel had mused for a long time, but he had decided against telling Mats about Lena’s revelation. Mats was already worried about the decision of the court, and there was no point in discussing their moving in together, since it happened more or less officially the day when Mats called him and told him about the upcoming decision.

There was nothing ceremonial in the moment. He packed a few of his things he thought that he would need in the upcoming days along with food for Oskar, he sat into his car and drove to Mats’ place. It felt so natural. Mats needed him and Marcel didn’t hesitate for a second about giving his love what he needed. He knew that his decision was right when he rang the bell of Mats’ house.

The defender was pale. Not normal pale, it was the kind of whiteness that Marcel saw on the few dead bodies he came across because of his job. Apparently, Mats had understood what everything was at stake and that his journey in the realm of parenthood could as easily get a sad ending as a happy one. Twenty-four hours a day, he was thinking about ways to impress the judge and the start of training didn’t help him, at all.

Marcel stood by his side all the time, only now realizing what it actually meant to live and be together with someone. But, despite all the hardships, he loved it. He loved Mats and he loved Emma and he was willing to sacrifice everything for them. He spent his days at home – that’s how he started to call Mats’ house. He barely went to vacation and now he was more than happy to take some days off from work.

The time spent together bound them with Emma and finally, Marcel felt equal to Mats in the baby’s eyes. When the raven-haired footballer came home, after doing the shopping, they sat together or played with Emma and just enjoyed themselves, never mentioning that menacing day that they couldn’t avoid. Secretly, they cherished the dream of being a family officially, although they knew that it couldn’t completely happen. They couldn’t adopt Emma as a couple, but neither of them cared about what papers would say as long as their hearts said something different, something that they both loved.

They only dared to give ways to their doubts in the evenings when Emma was already asleep and Mats and Marcel were staring at the TV screen. Mats spoke his heart out and Marcel consoled him, reassuring him and supporting him, because right now, that was all that he could offer and it was more than enough for the defender.

“What if they say no?” Mats exclaimed on the eve of his hearing. Their clothes were hanging prepared, because they didn’t want to risk being late. Everything depended on it and while Marcel could only watch the proceedings as an acquaintance of Mats to be interrogated about Mats’ parental abilities, he would stand by his boyfriend at all costs.

“They won’t.” Marcel whispered. They were half-lying on the sofa in a very strange position. When they met and at the start of their relationship, Mats was the stronger one and he held Marcel in his arms. Now, it was the other way around, with the defender’s head resting on the police officer’s chest. “You will show them what a great father you will be. And don’t forget about Emma. I wouldn’t be surprised if she came up with a way to convince everyone that you would be the best for her.”

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.” Mats said in a shaky voice. “What if she starts to cry and I won’t be able to calm her down? I don’t think that I can survive a refusal.”

“Then, you can count yourself lucky that it won’t happen.” Marcel tried to lift his spirits. Mats hummed and turned his attention towards the TV.

A rather interesting documentary was on, although neither of them had been able to listen to the narrator until now. He was talking about the conquest and colonization of the New World. He told engrossing stories about conquistadors and how Cortés ordered his men to burn their boats before they’d embark on a campaign to conquer what would later become Mexico to make sure that his men would fight knowing that there was no way back for them.

“You’ll do great tomorrow, you’ll see.” Marcel said. “And once you are given custody over Emma, you will be the happiest man alive.”

“ _We_.” Mats corrected him. “I’m not doing this for myself, Marcel. I might have started that way, but I can’t imagine my life without you anymore, just like I can’t imagine it without Emma. We are meant to be together and finding Emma and bringing her to your police station must have been my destiny and I’m more than grateful that it happened.”

Marcel was overwhelmed by his love’s confession and he didn’t know what to say. Mats used his silence to go on. “I don’t want to think about _you_ or _me_ anymore. I want to think about _us_ , no more being separated. I want us to be together for the rest of our lives. Do you want that, too?”

“Of course, Mats.” Marcel smiled weakly. Maybe it was time to talk about his biggest concern that he had never mentioned to Mats. “But how can we be together? I mean, really living together?” He added, seeing Mats’ eyes widen with shock. “Telling about us to child care was one thing. But I know that you don’t want to risk coming out. I don’t even expect you to do that. I understand what football means to you and I don’t want you to give it up for me– for us.” He corrected himself.

“Don’t you think that I can have both? A career and a loving family with the man I want to live my life with?” Mats looked at him with pleading eyes.

“I don’t know, Mats.” Marcel admitted. “I haven’t thought about it, to be honest. But, there must be a reason why gay footballers hide. What would the fans say to a gay player? Or your teammates? What would they think?”

“Half of them already knows.” Mats said dryly and it left Marcel speechless.

They had never talked about how they were dealing with their orientation being accepted or not accepted. Marcel hadn’t told to his colleagues about him being gay except for Lena, but he was sure that most of them wouldn’t have a problem with it. But, he somehow thought that footballers were less tolerant. After all, football was a game of manhood, about physicality and surely, they wouldn’t want a gay man in their team.

“And I don’t care about the fans.” Mats shrugged. “They hate me when I’m in a bad form and glorify me when I score a goal. I’ve learned long ago that there’s no point in losing sleep over their opinion. I always knew that I wanted to come out sooner or later. I’m not a man who hides, Marcel, and I don’t want to do it. But, until now, I haven’t met the man for whom I would come out. But, it has changed.” He purred and kissed Marcel’s cheeks.

“What about the media?” Marcel asked. He wanted to believe Mats’ words, but he couldn’t drop the topic that easily. Somehow he thought that talking through his concerns sincerely would do a lot more good than pretending that everything was fine.

“They write what they want. My orientation would be just another reason to have me on their front page.” Mats played it down, but Marcel could see the small glimpse of fear in his eyes. And he didn’t blame the defender. He was passionate about football and losing it would have been the biggest blow for Mats. “Do you want us to come out? To be together out in the open? Not caring about what anyone thought?”

“It would be nice.” Marcel sighed wistfully, thinking about his dream. A dream that might never come true. “But, first things first! We should get some rest to be able to awe everyone tomorrow and make sure that Emma will be with us when we come back home as a family.”


	30. A Rocky Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a few truly hectic days when I couldn't get near a computer, I'm here with the next chapter. I know that it comes later than promised and I'm awfully sorry for not keeping my promise, I hope you can forgive me. :-) I will try to do better in the future. :-)

Mats’ eyes wandered over the huge and old building and he had to gulp. He had always felt intimidated when he had to go to court. Luckily, it didn’t happen often and just the thought of having to deal with the country’s juridical system was unpleasant to him. Not that he had something to hide, but the sheer authority the judges and the lawyers radiated, frightened him. They decided about human fates and they were bound to make mistakes sometimes. Only, in their case, a mistake cost a lot more than in other situations.

“Can we go inside?” Marcel stepped up next to him. They had come with the blonde’s car, to avoid unwanted attention.

“Yes, sure.” Mats nodded and forced a weak smile on his face.

The judge had been tactful enough to keep the hearing closed to the public, but Mats had no illusions. He knew that some journalists would be there nonetheless, and he met them already in the big lobby. They rushed to him, shouting questions and pushing microphones under his nose. He pulled Emma closer to his body, doing his best to protect her from the reporters threatening to crush her. Marcel grabbed him by his arm and cut a way through the crowd. _Just like a bodyguard would do_ , Mats noted to himself and that’s what the journalists must have thought, too. He didn’t want to conceal his love for Marcel, but the blonde had been right the evening before: they should take it one step at a time. Getting through this obstacle was already hard enough, he didn’t need to complicate things with a coming out.

An employee of the court showed them the way towards the courtroom and they met a familiar face waiting in front of the door.

“I guess I was the quicker today.” Marco stood up. He was looking astounding, there was no other way to describe him. His tailored suit fit him perfectly and his hair was styled with the utmost care. “How are you doing, buddy?” He patted Mats’ shoulder encouragingly.

“Awfully.” Mats smiled sourly. He had barely eaten anything for breakfast, but even that few bites were threatening to make a reappearance.

“Come on, it will be fine.” Marco reassured him. “There’s no way that they won’t let you keep this wonderful little baby.” He turned his attention to Emma. She had been unsettled by the mass of reporters but she was now smiling at Marco making grimaces at her.

Mats didn’t say anything to that, but Marcel could see that he was grateful for another voice of support. And when the footballer finally opened his mouth, he was cut short by the opening of the door. A strict face radiating authority from every pore appeared.

“Mr. Hummels? Everything is ready.” He said and stepped aside, giving way to the three young men.

Mats’ knees turned into jelly and for a moment he looked like he would grab Emma tighter and run away with her the next second. Instead of that, he steeled himself, nodded and started off towards the courtroom.

It was almost empty, with only the child care woman who interviewed Mats and Ms. Scholz sitting in the benches. There was another young lady sitting in another row. Marcel gathered that she was Mats’ friend, the pediatrician he had taken Emma to. They walked to the front row in complete silence and sat down. The wood creaked and it was a painful sound in the dumbness of the courtroom.

A few minutes later, the judge entered and sat down in her chair. One of the courtroom’s workers read the report child care made about Mats and his wish to adopt Emma. Most of the report was positive. It emphasized Mats’ inner driving force, it went into details about how willing he was to help out and how much he enjoyed looking after Emma. Marcel had the feeling that they couldn’t have praised his boyfriend more even if they had wanted to. Mats, sitting in front of him, seemed to have eased as well, but it didn’t last long. The report concluded with keeping Mats in a good light, but also mentioning doubts about his ability to give a baby a suitable home with his busy schedule as a professional footballer. It was all very ambiguous and left space for the judge to decide.

Marcel had read about many cases to know that it might be a blessing and a disaster, too. There were judges who were simply unmovable and once they made up their minds (and they usually did so right at the start of the proceedings) there was nothing that could convince them otherwise. Other judges allowed the involved parties to try to persuade them and get them on their side. Marcel could only hope that the nice lady sitting in that big chair was from the latter category and that Mats could use his charm on her.

“Ms. Scholz, could you please answer a few of my questions?” The judge suddenly spoke up and Marcel looked at the old woman taken aback. He hadn’t really thought about why Ms. Scholz could be here, but now it all made perfect sense. She had taken care of Emma, even if it had been only for the matter of hours. She also had a long experience and could give her opinion about the skills one would need to be a good parent for Emma. Marcel instinctively felt that this wasn’t going to be very pleasant and the next few minutes proved him right.

“I understand that you’ve been a fostering parent for a long time now, isn’t that so?” The judge asked. There was no emotion in her voice as she looked at Ms. Scholz, waiting for an answer.

“Yes. I’ve been looking after children for almost twenty years now.” Ms. Scholz said proudly. Marcel was sure that she was a kind lady, but she hadn’t made a good first impression on him and so he couldn’t see her in any other way than a self-important old shrew.

“And with great excellence.” The judge added, casting a look at a few papers in front of her. Ms. Scholz smiled and blushed at the praise. “Child care has nothing but positives to say about your work for the children with a more unfortunate tale. And you were the first one to offer your help with looking after this sweet girl from the possible fostering parents. Could you please share your experience with her?”

“Well, I can’t say a lot good about it, I’m afraid.” Ms. Scholz admitted. “You see, I’m taking care of five children right now, all of different age. But, it is very exhausting, especially considering my age. I do all I can, but I couldn’t really agree to look after a baby permanently.”

“Why not?” The judge frowned, feigning surprise. Marcel was sure that she already knew all the details of the case. She was only interested in getting first-hand information from the ones involved and for that, she needed to play along.

“The moment I took her with me, she started crying and no matter what I did, she wouldn’t stop.” Ms. Scholz recalled the events with great enthusiasm. “I’m sure that she is a lovely girl and she will grow up to be a wonderful human being, but she needs extra care and that needs a lot of time and devotion. Unfortunately, I couldn’t offer it.”

“And do you think that Mr. Hummels could offer it?” The judge asked the all-important question.

“I–” Ms. Scholz stammered, caught by surprise. “I don’t really know Mr. Hummels, only from what I read about him in the papers.” _Probably yellow garbage_ , Marcel added in himself. He was looking at Ms. Scholz with a cutting glance, as if he wanted to attack her if she said something bad about Mats. “But, I can’t imagine him spending a lot of time with the baby. He must be very busy with his _job_.” She added with the utmost disgust felt towards football. She must have considered it not a real job at all.

“I see.” The judge hummed and Marcel could read her face for a second. It didn’t predict anything good for them. She seemed convinced by Ms. Scholz’s opinion and cast a not very favorable glance at Mats. And then, just to make matters worse than they already were, Emma woke up from her slumber and started crying, turning Mats’ biggest nightmare into reality.


	31. A Glimmer of Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You've asked for a quick update and I hope that this was quick enough. I also hope that it is a good one, so why don't you let me know what you think about it in the comments? :-)

Mats reached for Emma with trembling hands. He lifted her gently and pulled her close to him, rocking her and soothing her. It didn’t work. The baby’s wailing only got louder and Mats was helpless. It was going to end here and now. Child care would take Emma away from him, after all they had been through. The worst thing was that it was Emma who gave him the last thrust in his heart before his dreams, the life he had envisioned for himself came down crumbling. He hadn’t known what sadness and powerlessness was until this point. There was a huge lump in his throat, choking him, as he counted down the seconds until the judge would give her verdict and someone would come for Emma. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

“Thank you, Mr. Hummels.” He heard the judge, instead.

“Huh?” Mats said, stunned. He opened his eyes and felt everyone watching him in silence.

_Silence_. How sweet it was! Mats hadn’t even noticed that in his despair, he managed to soothe Emma after all and now the baby was lying in his arms, watching his daddy cheerfully. She looked as if she wanted to talk to him and ask for praise. “You see, daddy, I helped us?” Her eyes twinkled and Mats smiled warmly. Yes, Emma did help them and he couldn’t express how grateful he was. With Emma’s little scene, Ms. Scholz’s words and doubts seemed ungrounded and Mats saw his chances in a better light again.

“We can proceed, then.” The judge said. “Dr. Lehmann, if you will.” She smiled and Barbara stepped forward.

Mats’ heart sighed in relief. After the critical opinion of child care, it was finally time for the judge to hear his friends support him. Well, a friend, a boyfriend and a dork– Mats still wasn’t sure if involving Marco in all this had been such a great idea.

“Could you please tell me how you’ve learned about Mr. Hummels’s wish to adopt a baby?”

“I think it was the day after Mats found her and agreed to take care of her for some time.” Barbara started. She spoke with confidence and she stood with a straight back, giving a very good impression. Mats had no doubts that her words would mean a lot to the judge. He had taken Emma for regular checks ever since the first day, maybe more often than necessary and Barbara had reassured him that Emma was doing fine every single time. “He brought her and asked me to do a check-up so he knew if there were any special conditions he should know about to take good care of the baby.”

“Were there?” The judge’s eyebrow ran up her forehead.

“Not a single one.” Barbara shook her head. “The baby was as healthy as it can get and she has been ever since. I’ve checked her weekly and I can reassure you that Mats, I mean Mr. Hummels is looking after her the best ways possible.”

“I have no doubts about that.” The judge muttered. “But, one more question: There are dozens of pediatricians in the city, how come that Mr. Hummels took Emma straight to you.”

“We know each other from elementary school. We were classmates and have been good friends ever since.” Barbara answered. Mats felt that the judge was setting up a trap. It wasn’t really a trap, she was only doing her job, but she saw the possibility that Barbara might be supporting him because of their friendship.

“I see. Can’t it be that your professional opinion is distorted by your obviously good relationship with Mr. Hummels?” There. The question was out and Mats’ heart sank in his chest. Barbara’s words didn’t matter anymore; the judge thought that she was only Mats’ tool to convince her.

“Absolutely not.” Barbara snapped, somewhat offended and Mats watched her with awe. “I’ve taken an oath and that is to heal people. I wouldn’t hide any information just because one involved party is my friend. I’m sure that you understand my commitment.”

There was silence for a long moment and then, the judge nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Lehmann. Mr. Schmelzer, you are next.”

Mats’ heart missed a beat again. He watched as his boyfriend, his love stood up and walked towards the witness stand – were they called witnesses in this case, too? Mats could see that he was worried and that he would have a harder time staying professional and not let his feelings towards Mats affect his account. Maybe it was for the better.

“I understand that you were the police officer recording the case first.” The judge started. She was expecting to get done with Marcel’s hearing soon; they were more or less colleagues, after all.

“It is so.” Marcel nodded, his voice breaking.

“It is a bit strange that he asked you to speak up for him, then, isn’t it?” The judge suggested. “If it was the first time when you met, he must see something in you, right?” Mats paled. Did she know? But how could she? They haven’t really talked to anyone about their relationship!

“We were in contact ever since Mr. Hummels entered our station with the baby in his arms.” Marcel said, this time with an impassive expression. “It was easier to communicate with him this way and I saw how Mr. Hummels took care of the baby in the last weeks. I suppose that’s why he had asked me to share my impressions with the court.”

“And your impressions are…” The judge inquired.

“The best.” Marcel said firmly. He was putting a lot of emotion into his speech, maybe a bit too much, Mats was concerned. If the judge had sensed something, she could try to ridicule Marcel’s account the way she had tried with Barbara. “Mr. Hummels had acted like a very responsible citizen with contacting the police right away and he helped the authorities out when we couldn’t find a place for the baby. He had taken good care of her.”

“You also happened to be the officer who went to Mr. Hummels’s house when he asked the police to keep reporters away.” Mats frowned. He had no idea where this was going. “Don’t you think that this kind of public attention might be dangerous for the child?”

Once again, there was no emotion in her voice at all and Mats found it frightening. How could they talk about him like that? The judge was about to decide about not one but two human lives! Surely, she should have been more involved! Marcel waited for a few seconds until he composed his thoughts and himself. He had looked angry at first, but gradually, his features softened and he spoke up calmly.

“Look, I’m not an expert on what is good for a child or what isn’t. All I know is what I saw. I saw that Mr. Hummels wanted to protect her from publicity and hated the articles that were printed in the papers. I think that a child needs a loving home first of all and that has nothing to do with fame.”

“We’ve seen examples when celebrities’ children turned out to be troubled teenagers or even worse.” The judge cut in.

“And we’ve seen examples when they didn’t.” Marcel snapped back. “Compared to other footballers, I would say that Mr. Hummels is staying out of the spotlight as much as possible and he is keeping his private life out of the public’s sight. I consider it responsible behavior and I’m sure that he would use the same approach if he was given custody over Em– the baby.” He corrected himself. Mats had hated the way had been were referring to Emma ever since the start of this trial or whatever it was. She was a human being and she deserved respect, even if she still was a baby. But, he couldn’t change the official speech.

“Thank you, Mr. Schmelzer.” The judge said after a moment of consideration. “That will be all. Mr. Reus, please come forward.”

Mats’ teammate sprang up, smoothed out the wrinkles on his suit and started to walk towards the stand. Mats watched him with growing anxiety. His stomach wasn’t bigger than a tight knot as he mumbled a silent prayer: _Marco, just for once, please be serious!_


	32. A Close Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to keep the story tense because of the hearing, but also bring a bit lighter mood into the story and I thought that Marco would be the perfect for that, because in this chapter, he really does what he is the best at: being a dork. I hope that you will like it, and share your thoughts with me, because I really have no idea if my idea worked or not.

“Good morning, Mr. Reus!” The judge showed Marco a warm and wide smile. “You and Mr. Hummels are players of one of the world’s best football clubs, is that right?”

The question surprised Mats and he saw that it was the case with Marco, too. But, the blonde shrugged off his shock very quickly and a conceited grin spread across his face. It always flattered him to receive praise and he couldn’t hold back when there was a chance to be the target of such praise.

“Yes, we can say that.” Marco nodded. Mats’ mind was racing, he was trying to figure out where the judge was heading with her questions.

“So I assume that you have a busy training schedule and you travel a lot.” The revelation didn’t ease Mats’s mind, at all. Once again, his ability to look after Emma would be questioned because of the relative lack of time for a possible family life.

“Correct.” Marco agreed, not saying more than it was absolutely necessary. Mats presumed that he had chosen this approach to not screw up anything. The less he spoke, the less probable it was that he would ruin Mats’ case. Or, it would have been so if he hadn’t been Marco Reus, the dorkiest among the dorks. Mats knew that no matter how much or little Marco would speak, he could easily crush his chances.

“Tell me, Mr. Reus, how much time do you have for your private life, then?” She inquired. Mats wasn’t sure if she was allowed to be so critical. He had always imagined that judges had to be objective and have a well-balanced point of view. But then, Barbara and Marcel had praised him, maybe the judge thought that it was time to get to know Mats from a different angle.

“Well, we usually have two training sessions, one late in the morning, usually until noon. Then, we eat, get tactical instructions and we have a training session later in the afternoon. But, during the season, we might get free days or have trainings only in the morning.” Marco explained.

“And what about traveling? How many days do you spend away from home?”

“It depends on the matches we have to play. Sometimes, we are at home for a whole week, other times, we barely get to unpack our things before we get going again.”

Mats hid his face behind his hands. Marco was doing what he was the best at: screwing everything up. Couldn’t he see how he assisted the judge in putting him in a bad light? Marco was exaggerating things, because he was glad that someone was curious about their lives and he never hesitated to use some white lies to make himself look cooler than he really was. The worst thing about it was that he didn’t even notice what he was doing, and Mats knew that there was nothing that could open his eyes and make him stop diminishing Mats’s chances of adoption.

“But, all in all, I think we have as much spare time as anyone else. It’s not like we live our lives as robots. We can still chill out and enjoy a few parties.”

“Would you describe Mr. Hummels as a partying type of person?” The judge asked, scribbling notes. _God, someone please kill me_ , Mats groaned. This couldn’t get any worse, could it? He just simply wanted the judge to tell her verdict and take Emma away from him, there was no point in any further humiliation.

“Well, he’s not a saint.” Marco obviously chose the worst possible words to say right now. “We get out some time to relax and switch off. But, he knows where the borders are and has no problem to stop or moderate himself.”

“I see.” The judge hummed. “So even in his partying, you would call him a responsible grown-up?”

“Um,” Marco hesitated, now realizing what kind of picture he had painted about Mats, “I would like to rephrase what I said.”

“Go on.” The judge nodded.

“I don’t want you to think that Mats is a big party-face, because he definitely isn’t. No offense.” Marco turned back to Mats for a second to apologize. Mats looked back at him with a cutting glance as if he was thinking hard about ways to kill his teammate. Marco must have noticed it, because he paled as he turned back to the judge. “I was trying to say that Mats can choose his priorities and he is very responsible. He never lets anything affect his professional performance. When he knows that he has training the next day, you can be sure that he will be there and do his best. And I can tell you that looking after Emma, I mean the baby is one of his top priorities. She was already staying with him, when the guys wanted to go out. I went to visit Mats and invite him, but he wouldn’t come, because he had to take care of Emma.”

“I understand, Mr. Reus.” The judge smiled, trying to stop Marco.

“You also talked about the risk that Mats’ fame could spoil the child. I don’t agree with you.” Marco continued, not touched the least by the judge’s words. “Mats is one of those guys who want to hide their private lives and believe me, there are things that he must keep secret.”

Mats’ blood stood still. _He did not say that, right,_ he asked himself. _He could not possibly say that!_ But yes, Marco, his _former_ best friend, did it and he pressed his hand on his mouth when he realized what he had said and how it had depicted Mats. A heavy silence ruled in the courtroom, everyone expecting Marco’s explanation. Mats prayed for the ground to open up and swallow him. He stared in front of himself, and didn’t even want to look away, because he was sure that he would meet curious glances from every direction. His situation was bad enough, there was no point in making it even worse.

“What kinds of things?” The judge asked.

“Nothing illegal.” Marco shook his head. “But, there are certain things that could ruin a footballer’s career, even though there is nothing wrong with them and are accepted if it is about someone else.”

_Come on, just tell them that I’m gay. Really, why not?_ Mats thought to himself. A straightforward outing would have been better than this desperate explanation without stating the facts. And he was pretty sure that everyone in the room already knew what Marco meant. The judge must have, because she dropped the topic.

“I understand.” She hummed. “Thank you, Mr. Reus, that would be all. Unless, of course you want to tell us something more.” _Oh, no, he’s finished!_ , Mats wanted to spring up and shout, but he was powerless and of course Marco couldn’t shut up so easily.

“Just one more thing.” He said. “I know that you wanted to frame Mats and that you think that just because he is a single man and what’s worse, a footballer, he isn’t good enough to adopt or be a great and responsible father. With all respect, it’s bullshit. So many kids grow up nowadays that they barely see their parents. They are too busy with their jobs to have the time to listen to their children. They put them into kindergarten or school and go there late in the afternoon to pick them up and they only spend the evenings together. Would you call them bad parents and take their children away from them? I wouldn’t. I grew up with both of my parents working every day to be able to give my sisters and me everything we needed. And yes, there were times when I wished that they would spend more time with me, but when I grew up, I realized that they only did it for me and when I really needed them, they were by my side. And let me tell you, that I consider them the best parents in the world and I think that Mats can be such an amazing father to Emma.” He said in a sudden rush of words and everyone listened to him in awe. Mats’ jaws dropped as he watched his teammate and his best friend _again_ turn around and leave the stand, sending an apologetic glance at Mats. For the first time in his life, Mats was glad that Marco hadn’t shut up.

“Mr. Hummels, there’s nothing else left than ask you a few questions.” The judge called him. Mats put Emma in the baby seat and stood up. The baby groaned a little, but Marcel leaned forward immediately to soothe her. Mats shot them a loving glance and started off towards the stand, knowing that everything would be decided very soon.


	33. Burning the Boats

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm afraid that you will have to wait a bit longer for the judge's decision, but in the meantime, I think I have something as interesting for you. :-) Please, let me know what you think of it.

Mats had thought that he had known what fear was, but his idea of it was nothing compared to what he was feeling now. He wasn’t sure if he was going to make it to the stand without fainting. His knees had turned into jelly and he couldn’t get enough oxygen into his lungs, no matter how he tried. In the end, even he didn’t know, how, he made it. His fingers curled around the wooden railing in a firm grip as he desperately tried to keep himself up. For a second, he couldn’t hear anything apart from blood pumping in his ears.

“I must say that your application for an adoptive parent was quite incredible, Mr. Hummels.” The judge started. “I’ve been involved in many adoption cases, but yours is truly remarkable. One would think that it’s just a passing craze, but I can see that you mean it seriously with raising kids. Tell me, Mr. Hummels, have you been entertaining the thought for a longer time?”

“Yes, I’ve been thinking about it for some time now.” Mats nodded. “I’ve always been a family man and wanted to have a family on my own.”

“And yet, you haven’t had luck with serious relationships.” The judge noted.

“It’s not that simple.” Mats murmured and the judge realized that she was hitting a sore spot.

“So you’ve wanted to adopt a child and just then, you find a baby in the streets. I’m saying that it’s a great coincidence.”

“You shouldn’t call it a coincidence!” Mats snapped. “This baby was left behind, anything could have happened to her! Yes, I wanted to adopt a child and in that regard, fate helped me out a bit, but I wouldn’t call it coincidence.”

“I’m sorry, you must have misunderstood me.” The judge smiled warmly. “What I was trying to say is that there might be some questions about the sincerity of your wish, considering that you might have acted on the spur of the moment. You wanted to adopt and you found a kid. Police asked you to look after her. You might see it as a lucky constellation, and maybe you could forget about the seriousness of this decision and the responsibility you are going to take with adoption.”

“It’s not true!” Mats defended himself. “I do understand my responsibility and duty as a parent. Emma grew close to my heart in the past few days, so in a way, it’s making my job easier, yes. But, I fully understand what it means. I’ve taken good care of her, I think, and where there is space for improvement, I am willing to work on myself.”

“Please don’t think that I’m trying to ridicule your wish.” The judge explained. _Then what are you trying to do?_ Mats asked himself, because it was looking very much like his humiliation was the goal. “Child care’s report tells me everything I need to know about your parental skills. There’s no doubt that you care about this baby. You gave her a name already and looked after her as if she was your own kin. Your own friend, Dr. Lehmann reassured me that the baby is perfectly healthy and I saw with my own eyes how you rocked her. I think that you are a great father material, Mr. Hummels, but there are questions that haven’t been answered.”

“What questions?” Mats stammered. He wanted this to be over. He didn’t like it when someone was prying into his private life and in this case he understood the need of it, but he thought that this was pushing it.

“Your free time for example. It’s not easy to be a single parent and with your profession… Mr. Reus can tell me whatever he would like to, but while he is certainly right, I have doubts about how much time you will have for the baby. And there’s always the possibility of a transfer for you. I don’t have to decide only about giving a child a new parent, I also have to consider the environment I’m sending her into. And, I have concerns about the environment you can provide.”

Mats took a few very deep breaths. What the judge said made sense and he knew that he could probably easily dispel her worries. He gathered all his strength and turned around. He started off back towards the benches with determined steps. Barbara, Marco and Marcel watched him with bewildered expressions. They must have thought that he was walking away, giving up. In a way, he was, but it wasn’t giving up his dream. He was giving up the life he had lived until now and that had lasted already too long for him.

“Mats!” Marcel whispered when the footballer stopped right next to him. The blonde looked at him with pleading eyes. _He didn’t get it_ , Mats realized. The dark-haired man smiled and reached for the police officer’s hand. Marcel’s eyes widened in shock and he quickly looked around as if he wanted to make sure if anyone was watching them. Well, everyone was. “What are you doing?” He hissed, keeping his voice down.

“Burning my boats.” Mats said simply as he bent forward and grabbed Marcel’s hand. He pulled the blonde up and turned back towards the judge. She watched them taken aback, but Mats saw that she also understood what he was doing.

He walked back to the stand, tugging Marcel after him. The blonde was like dead weight behind him and Mats could have sworn that he still had no idea about what was going on. It didn’t matter. He loved him this way, even though he was a bit slow sometimes when it came to noticing things.

They stopped in the stand that was too tight for two grown-up men, but Mats didn’t mind the closeness. They were pressed together and they couldn’t let go of each other’s hands even if they wanted to. Mats could feel a layer of sweat on Marcel’s soft skin. He squeezed the oh so sweet hand and he spoke up.

“Here’s the answer to your questions, Honorable Judge.” Mats said. Marcel tensed up by his side, but it lasted only a second. The next moment, he turned to Mats and there was nothing else on his face than love, pride and gratitude. “I love this man with all I have and I’m willing to give him everything I have. We live together and we are a family. We support each other and we want to raise Emma together. I get it that you are afraid that on my own, I won’t have the time for a kid. Well, I’m not alone and I will never ever be.”

Mats felt liberated. It felt as if there had been a dark cloud covering the sun in his life, but it had been doing so for such a long time that Mats didn’t notice it anymore. Now, this cloud moved on and the sun shone brighter and the gloominess was gone. The world was beautiful, filled with love and happiness. It was the most incredible emotion he had ever experienced and most importantly, he was sharing it with the love of his life.

“Mr. Schmelzer, is it so? Are you planning to live your lives together and bring up this baby?” The judge was the first one to find her professional self again, but Mats could see that she wasn’t unmoved by his coming out.

“Y–yes.” Marcel stammered. Mats sensed that his boyfriend was ready to collapse any time, so he wrapped his arm around the slim but strong waist.

“That puts everything in a different light.” She mused out loud. “Mr. Hummels, I think that hiding this fact was the stupidest thing that you could have ever done, but I do understand why you did so and what exactly it means for you.” She took a break to send a reassuring smile at him. “I will now retire to make my verdict.”


	34. The Verdict

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the last chapter of this story. I want to thank you for the great support you showed to this fic, even though it featured a not so common pairing, but I am glad that Mats and Marcel have convinced many of you. Your wonderful comments kept me writing and you deserve all my gratitude. Thank you. :-)

They were allowed to leave the courtroom, but Mats didn’t want to go anywhere. The previously suffocating and intimidating atmosphere changed. Or maybe, it was he who had changed. He stood there, grabbing Marcel’s hand while Ms. Scholz left. Barbara came to them and apologized, but she couldn’t wait for the verdict. Mats told her that it was okay and he was finally brought back to reality. They left the stand and walked to Emma, sitting down by the baby’s side. The little angel was lying there peacefully and she looked at her daddies cheerfully. She must have known how the judge would decide. Mats had a very strong feeling that the verdict would be favorable, but he didn’t want to think about it right now.

Regardless of the case’s end, this was the happiest day of his life. For the first time, he was himself; not a mask he wore to hide his true self to protect his career. It was the most amazing feeling and he was sure that he would never ever return to his previous lifestyle. Life held so many great things for him and Marcel, they only had to reach for them and they would get them. Earlier, Mats had been afraid that his coming out would ruin his life; now, he knew that it was the secrecy that had been ruining it.

“Wow, bro, you’ve been incredible!” Marco stopped next to them, cheering as if he was on a football match. “The way you shut that judge up and showed her! Just wow! You rocked it!”

“Yes, maybe I wouldn’t have had to _rock_ it if you had been able to keep your mouth shut.” Mats groused.

“Yeah, sorry about that…” Marco drawled and Mats saw that he was sincerely feeling guilty.

“Oh, for f’s sake!” Mats laughed as he sprung up and hugged his teammate. “I’ve never been this grateful that you are my friend!” He shouted and the blonde looked back at him with a bewildered expression. “You might have depicted me as a careless party-goer and a criminal who has to hide a lot of things, but you made me stop concealing myself and I can’t thank you enough for that!” He cried out, hugging the winger again.

“Um, I’m not sure I am the man you should be celebrating with.” Marco muttered under his nose and Mats finally let go of him. He turned around and looked at Marcel.

The police officer looked how the footballer must have looked like. He was happy, joyful and most of all, relieved. He stood up and stepped close to Mats. They pressed their lips together. It might not have been the best place to kiss, but they couldn’t hold back. Their kisses had been incredible already, but now, knowing that they didn’t have to hide from anyone, it was even sweeter.

“Misters, I don’t want to interrupt anything, but there’s something I have to say and I think that both of you might be interested.” The judge returned and chuckled when she saw the scene in front of her.

Mats pulled back, but reached for Marcel’s hand. They turned towards the judge and awaited her verdict. Their hearts were beating as one as they took deep breaths. The tension was almost unbearable and the judge didn’t rush things. She waited for a few seconds before she started to speak again.

“Since the police investigation couldn’t find any information about the whereabouts of the baby’s mother and no known relative wants to look after her, I declare that a permanent placement at a fostering parent is justified.” Mats sighed as the first hurdle was overcome. Now, the only question was if he had been found suitable for this role and it was the biggest question.

“Based on the reports of child care and witnesses, I also declare that custody over the baby is given to Mr. Mats Hummels with immediate effect…”

She kept talking, citing laws and paragraphs, but Mats couldn’t listen to hear. His ears must have deceived him. It couldn’t be. It was too great to believe. Emma was his child. The realization was overwhelming. He was brought back to reality by Marcel squeezing his hand.

“Huh?” Mats grunted. The judge had asked him something, only, he had no idea what it was.

“Since the baby’s name hadn’t been discovered, it is now in your competence to officially name her.” The judge repeated friendly.

“Emma.” Mats blurted out. “Emma Flora.” He added.

“Emma Flora Hummels.” The judge nodded. “That will be all, gentlemen. Congratulations, and please, accept my best wishes. I hope you will have a wonderful life.”

“Thank you.” Mats said.

He still wasn’t himself. It had been everything he had ever dreamed of and now it was all his. He was a father and he had an amazing boyfriend. What else could he have asked for? His heart was filled with pride and happiness and for a moment, he feared that his chest would explode. There was nothing that could ruin his mood and bring him down. Nothing, apart from…

“Woohoo, Mats! You did it, captain!” Marco stepped next to him and flung his arm around his shoulder.

“Marco!” Mats looked at him with a reprimanding look. “I’ve just forgiven you for nearly screwing everything up. Don’t make me change my mind.”

“Uh, okay.” Marco admitted that he hadn’t been behaving the best way. “I’ll wait for you outside, then. I mean, I have to make a call anyways.” He said, blushing.

“Just go, Marco.” Mats put an end to this annoying explanation. When Marco finally started off towards the exit, Mats turned to Marcel. “I guess we have something to celebrate.”

“We? I thought that you became Emma’s dad.” Marcel said shyly and teasingly. Emma gave way to her discontent with a grunt. They both looked at her and burst out laughing.

“You can’t argue with that.” Mats winked. “Emma needs two fathers.”

He didn’t give Marcel time to object. He put his lips on Marcel’s mouth and invited him for a lazy kiss. They had their lives in front of them and they would spend it together; they didn’t need to hurry. It lasted for a very long moment, but even that wasn’t enough for them. But, their lungs finally cried for air and they couldn’t ignore this need.

“Can we go?” Mats whispered.

“I’m in.” Marcel smiled.

Mats didn’t let go of his hand as he picked up Emma. Marcel got her baby seat and they started off towards the exit. Mats thought of the reporters waiting for him outside. Marcel’s thoughts must have been centered around the same thing, because just before they reached the door, he suddenly stopped.

“Mats, you know, this was a hearing closed to the public. That means that everything that happened here will be kept inside these walls. If you don’t want to, we can pretend that we are no couple and–”

“Don’t even finish this, Marcel!” Mats put his index finger on the blonde’s lips. “I’ve burned my boats, remember? There’s no coming back for me. I don’t even need one. I don’t care about what the reporters will write, because I am happy with you by my side, and I can never be happy again without you.” He said, determined.

He opened the door and grabbed Marcel’s hand again. They stepped out together. The journalists might have been waiting for a juicy story that they could put on their front page, but instead, they were going to see something much bigger and stronger.

A family.

 

THE END


End file.
